Circles and Triangles
by Bee03
Summary: How long would you wait for love? //Clois/Lexana/Chimmy/Brois// CURRENTLY ON HIATUS. Note pen name change, formerly SpikesSweetie.
1. Prologue: Ducks

Prologue: Ducks

Summary: The story of love and heartbreak...mainly a Clois story...but with Lollie, some Lexana, some Chimmy, and Lois/Bruce..

A/N: This was thought up after "Promise" so it is set then, just ignore everything that's happened afterwards...also, I didn't know the actual cause of death for Lois' mom, so I made it up to work with my story...

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

(--)

Clark stared out the window of the loft. His mind wandered over the events of the day. He thought about the two drastically different conversations he'd had with Lana. He thought about how gorgeous she had looked walking down the aisle and he wished it was him she was walking to.

His ears pricked as he heard footsteps on the stairs. Someone else was coming by to comfort him. Already his mother and Chloe had dropped by to give him the obligatory 'I'm Sorry That the Love of Your Life Just Married Your Former Best Friend' speech. He appreciated that they cared but frankly, he'd heard enough. He didn't want to talk. He just wanted to sit in the loft and think about his past. Think about what could've happened with Lana if he'd told her his secret years ago.

"Self-pity is not attractive," came a voice from behind him. Clark sighed. Lois Lane was definitely the person he least wanted to talk to at the moment. He didn't look up as she moved across the wooden floor to stand beside him. He gave her a short glance and then turned back to the fading daylight.

Lois stood beside him, her hands on her hips. She wasn't going to let sympathy get in the way of her mission. Objective: Get Smallville out of his funk before he was too far gone to save. She gave him a once over before setting her sights on the target.

"Oh, I get it, you're not talking because you think that will make me go away," Lois announced, she stepped in front of him, bending down so her nose nearly touched his, "you know me better than that, Smallville."

"What are you doing here Lois?" Clark asked, though he knew that answer.

"Me? Oh, I'm just visiting. I thought it would be an appropriate time to stop by and wish good tidings on your quest for complete misery," Lois replied with a smile.

"Funny," Clark said without so much as a grin. Lois rolled her eyes, grabbed a chair and moved it in front of Clark. She sat down and stared at the brooding hulk. Clark rolled his eyes but stared right back at Lois. He knew sooner or later she would break from her silence, get frustrated with his and then leave; it was just a matter of time before he had his peace and quiet back. The thing was he kind of didn't want Lois to leave. Her presence was a small comfort to him.

He couldn't deny that in the past few months he'd been thinking about Lois differently. He liked having her around. He liked that she was completely honest, if not abrasive, about people. She didn't like to hide things, one major reason why Clark planned on never telling her his secret. He could only imagine what she'd call him then. He thought about the night in the alley, he'd even had a fair share of dreams since Valentine's Day; but then Lana's stalker incident had brought the former-girl-next-door back into his life and the rest just blew up in his face.

Lois was still staring at him, but he'd disappeared into his thoughts again.

"Ducks," Lois suddenly said. Clark blinked. Even with his super-hearing he wasn't sure he'd actually heard her correctly.

"What?"

"Ducks, Smallville, ducks."

"Lois, did you take your medication today? You're talking crazy," the slip from miserable Clark to normal Clark brought the faintest smile to Lois' lips.

"You need to get your ducks in a row, Smallville."

"I still don't understand you," Clark replied.

"Look, Smallville, yeah, it sucks that Lana went and married Lex, dumbest mistake of her life, if you ask me, but guess what, Clark? You can't change that. Lana made her choice, it was wrong but whatever, there's nothing you can do. And you have to understand that. You have to get your ducks in line, set your priorities straight. You can't just sit here all the time brooding about what you lost," Lois explained.

"What'd you know about?" Clark asked gruffly.

"A lot, my mother committed suicide." Clark had to blink again. Lois looked at him passively; it didn't seem to bother her.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, I was nine; the night it happened, she came into my room, she asked me if I wanted to go to Paris, I told her we'd go later, I was tired, I didn't understand her. The next morning, I found her in the bathroom. She'd O.Ded. I thought she'd done it because I'd said no to Paris."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. It's not my fault either, but it took me a long time to figure that out, to realize that I couldn't have changed what happened. It was just a matter of time, whether we went to Paris or not. After several dozen hours of therapy, I finally understood that. Once I did I looked at my eleven-year-old life and I thought about my sister and Chloe, the people I still had. They became my priority; it's been that way ever since."

Clark was silent for minute. Dozens of thoughts drifted around his head. Lois had a point, he knew that. She was usually right, and sharing the story about her mother's suicide had proven that she wasn't just talking. She'd gone through something too, something worse than seeing your friend marrying your ex. The pain Lois must have endured made Clark's problems pale in comparison, but Clark knew that Lois would never allow him to think that. She didn't want sympathy, she didn't like pity. She was strong, and she expected everyone else to be right up there with her.

"I'm not you, Lois," Clark said softly.

"I know you're not, Smallville, and I'm not asking you to develop this hard Lane-exterior because that's not you, I'm just saying, you have to figure out what counts; figure out who counts."

Without thinking about it, Lois placed a gentle hand on Clark's. Her finger looked tiny compared to his, but that didn't bother her. What did was how comfortable it felt, her hand on his. She blinked a few times, reminding herself to breathe. Her eyes met his and the world seemed to fade away. There was no Lana, no wedding, no barn, just Lois and Clark, sitting together amidst a chaotic world. And yet, even though they were aware of the chaos, there was nothing but calm between them.

"Should I just forget about Lana?" Clark asked. His voice cut through the air, she glanced up at him; the moment was gone, the chaos was back. Lois blinked again, clearing her head. She let things slide back to normal, as her mouth erased every thread of their contact.

"Smallville, if you could possibly forget about Lana Lang for a second, I would drop dead," she said smiling, leaning back in her chair.

"That'd be reason enough for me," Clark joked softly. Lois punched him playfully on the shoulder. He didn't mention that he'd definitely forgotten about Lana for more than a second, their kiss had lasted more than a second that was for sure. Not to mention Valentine's Day, everything leading up to the engagement party disaster was about Lois.

The pair stared at each other, Lois hoping her tactics had worked, Clark knowing that they had.

"Ducks, huh?" Clark asked.

Lois nodded, standing. Clark looked up at her, his smile brighter than it had been in months. She had accomplished what she had come to accomplish. She patted Clark on the head before walking to the stairs, leaving Clark alone to his thoughts. Halfway down the stairs, she looked back at Clark, still staring out the window.

She didn't even see Oliver Queen standing at the bottom of the stairs until she walked into him. Reeling backwards and catching herself on the railing, Lois steadied and stared at the man dressed in a black suit and jacket with a light green tie set in the center. She'd never seen him wear clothes like that unless they were at one of his fancy parties.

It was amidst analyzing Oliver's new wardrobe that Lois realized Oliver was in fact standing in the Kent's barn. She frowned. She hadn't remembered him coming back; in fact she believed she remembered him saying that he would probably never see her again.

"What're you doing here?" Lois choked out.

"I figured you'd be here," Oliver replied.

"Well, you figured right," Lois said coolly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," Oliver began, "leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life."

"Go on," Lois felt herself saying; though she didn't want to forgive him, she couldn't stop her mouth from moving.

"I love you, Lois Lane," Oliver reached a hand in his pocket, "and I want to fix this between us." He bent down, right there in the dust of the barn floor, and extend his hand to her, a black box in his hand.

"Ollie, I-," Lois couldn't speak this wasn't happening. She hated Oliver Queen. She hated him because he had broken her heart. She hated him because of the man sitting upstairs, because she couldn't stop thinking of the mixed CD, because she hadn't thrown away her ripped shirt, because of all those things she hated him. And then he opened the box and said the fateful words.

"Will you marry me?" The ring was nestled against black satin, a green stone set in a gold band. It was a breathtaking ring. But she hated him. She hated Oliver Queen. She knew she hated him, and still words escaped her lips before her mind had a chance to catch up.

"Yes."

A bright smile broke out onto Ollie's face. For a second, Lois thought she saw a flash of doubt in his eyes, but it disappeared as he stood up. Removing the ring from the box, he placed it on Lois' delicate finger. She tried to remind herself to keep breathing.

"It's gorgeous," Lois said softly.

"Only fitting for a gorgeous woman," Ollie cooed into her ear. She looked up at him. He saw her faint tears as a sign of happiness, Lois knew otherwise. And so did the man now standing at the top of the stairs.

Clark had heard the whole thing of course. He'd just begun to forget about Lana, to think of the brunette that had just vacated the premises when he heard her crash into something. He was on his feet in a second but then he heard voices: Lois' and someone else he recognized.

Honestly, Clark hadn't expected Lois to say yes. He thought she had a little more sense than to say yes to a man who had very recently walked out of her life with little to no explanation. Not to mention the fact that Oliver still hadn't told Lois about his alter ego, the Green Arrow.

Lois turned around when she felt his presence, she stared up at him. Their eyes met and she had to look away. Oliver had his hands in his pockets again as he locked eyes with Clark. Both men stared at one another and Lois got the sense that they were having a non-verbal pissing contest and this time it had to do with her.

"Oliver," Clark nodded.

"Clark," Oliver replied with the same curt tone.

"I thought you were in Star City."

"I came back."

"And proposed," Clark made his way down the stairs.

"Well, Lois is special," Oliver explained. It would've brought a smile to Lois lips once upon a time, but now she had to force one at him, before meeting Clark's gaze again. His eyes made her ashamed.

"I know," Clark replied. He wasn't looking at Oliver; his eyes were locked on Lois' bent head. He was making her feel crappy about something that essentially was a good thing. She wouldn't allow his miserable attitude to affect her happy day.

"Look, Smallville," she said straightening, hooking her arm in Oliver's, "Ollie proposed, okay? No one asked you to be big brother." Clark raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing, "Ollie, c'mon let's go tell Mrs. K."

Oliver nodded and started toward the barn door. Clark hurriedly reached out to Lois' arm. She stopped and turned back to him. He was smiling faintly, apologetically. She couldn't help but forgive him.

"Ducks, huh Lois?" Clark asked softly.

"Ducks," Lois said nodding. She gave him a quick smile before leading Oliver outside.

"Ducks?" Oliver inquired as they headed up the porch steps.

"It's--it was--congratulations," Lois replied quickly. Oliver frowned but said nothing more as Lois sped through the events of the last few minutes to Mrs. Kent; the older woman gave Lois a quick glance but didn't chide her, something that Lois was thankful for. Instead the senator gave Lois a tight hug.

(--)

More to come...This is only Part One...there are a few trailers up for this fic on You Tube...use thus URL to get directly to the page: 


	2. Wedding Bells Are Ringing

Chapter 1: Wedding Bells Are Ringing…

Summary: Something strange is happening between Lois and Clark, but Oliver's wedding proposal changes everything…

Disclaimer: I own the plot bunnies…

(--)

Four months of planning. They had opted for a spring wedding. Chloe and Lucy were the bridesmaids. Victor and Bart were the groomsmen. (AC had been conveniently sent on a mission for their secret club). Lois couldn't be happier. _Yeah right_, the brunette thought miserably.

She brushed a hand through her hair and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Something was off, it just didn't feel right. She loved Ollie, no doubt about that, but it felt like he wasn't telling her everything. Not to mention the fact that she'd been strategically avoiding Clark everyday since the engagement.

That was one thing she couldn't understand. Smallville was her friend. She liked him, so what was the big deal with him being around her? It was just their talk that night in the barn, the evening Ollie had showed up, diamond ring in tow, Lois could have sworn she felt something else, something new, and yet familiar at the same time. She felt happy.

Sure, Clark had been miserable, Lana had just gotten married, but Lois had a sense that maybe he'd gotten over Lana, if only for a second, when she had touched his hand. When he had given her that bright smile he was famous for, but was rarely seen.

Still, Lois knew that she had been the one to say yes. She could've denied Oliver what he wanted. But she had been unable to say anything that night. She was too overcome by her experience with Smallville. She was afraid, afraid of the feelings that had shocked her in the barn. It was unnatural. She wasn't in love with Clark. He wasn't her type. She was into the handsome, leather-wearing, bad-boys, not the endearing, plaid obsessed farm-type. She didn't fall for the good boys.

She sighed and tossed a look at her cell phone. There were three missed calls from Clark. He'd realized she'd been avoiding him and he'd made an effort to reconnect with her. She'd ignored him. He'd even come by her apartment earlier that day. She'd made an excuse and bolted before anything serious could be discussed.

Lois was tired. She was tired of running away from her problems. She'd been doing it for so long that she'd almost forgotten how to face them. She imagined that if she'd had a problem with someone besides Clark, he would be the first person to hold her hand and help her. But he couldn't help when it was him she couldn't deal with.

Her phone vibrated, surprising her. She glanced at the ID and smiled when she saw Chloe's name on the screen. Flipping the phone open she held it to her ear.

"Hey, Clo."

"Hey, how's the bride to be?" Chloe's voice was cheerful and Lois felt a twinge of guilt that she was not as excited as her cousin.

"Oh, you know," Lois replied.

"Yeah, you sound great," Chloe commented, her voice growing worried.

"Sorry, I'm just really confused by this whole Smallville thing," Lois said, rubbing her hand over her eyes.

"You mean how you've been unexplainably avoiding him for the last four months," Chloe suggested.

"Yeah, I mean that."

"I don't know what to tell you Lois," Chloe said softly, "but hey, at least you and Oliver are happy. I mean in two days you'll be enjoying wedded bliss in the tropics of Tahiti."

"Yeah…" Lois tried to sound excited but this whole situation was really draining her wedding enthusiasm. Of course, she'd known about her lack of enthusiasm from the beginning of the engagement.

"Well, you sound like you could use a good night's sleep to calm that restless mind of yours," Chloe said. She sounded a little hurt that Lois was being so distant, and her cousin felt bad, but she couldn't bring herself to tell Chloe that she wasn't sure if she could marry Oliver.

"Yeah, maybe that will help," Lois replied, her voice as upbeat as she could make it, "I'll talk to you tomorrow Clo."

"Okay, don't forget the rehearsal's at five," Chloe reminded before hanging up her phone. When the line clicked off, Lois closed her phone and placed it down on the counter. Chloe was staying with Jimmy that night. She was adamant about being out of the apartment, in case Oliver came over for a late night party. Lois assured her that nothing would be happening as Ollie was finishing up business in Star City before the wedding.

She rubbed her eyes again. Maybe Chloe was right, maybe a good night's sleep would help her think clearer. Padding over to her room, Lois suddenly got the distinct feeling of being watched. She moved the curtains on her window but there was nothing there. Shaking away the feeling, she climbed into bed and shut off the lights.

(--)

Clark breathed heavily. That was a close call. He never imagined that Lois would sense him. He'd been sitting on the ledge by her window for nearly an hour, listening to her go about her evening.

He'd been sitting by her window every night since she and Oliver had gotten engaged. On the nights when she didn't return--when he assumed she was with Oliver--he simply waited until her saw her walk in the next morning. He wasn't stalking her, at least he kept reminding himself that, but he _was_ getting a little obsessive, and he knew that.

He couldn't help it. The night in the barn had changed things between them. Lois had offered up a piece of her heart to him, and he had been completely focused on Lana, until she had touched his hand. Sure they'd held hands before, he remembered taking her hand at the hospital after the plane crash, but there had never been spark like that night four months ago.

If only he'd said something then, if only he'd forgotten about Lana, moved on. Maybe Lois wouldn't have run off into Oliver's arm and agreed to marry him without a second guess. He knew that what Oliver was doing to Lois wasn't right. He still hadn't told her that he was the infamous Green Arrow. But he was still Clark's friend, so the young man hadn't said anything.

Still, he didn't think it was right that Oliver wasn't telling the woman that he claimed to love about his big secret. _Hypocrite_, Clark thought bitterly. But he knew that keeping things from people, even for their own safety, was a bad idea. His secret had kept him from ever really being with Lana, and then losing her to Lex, it would have crushed him had Lois not showed up at the barn that night.

He'd felt something that night. It was different but definitely strong. He wasn't stupid, it wasn't like he was in love with Lois; he just had never really seen her as a possibility before. And the only time he did was when she was engaged to someone else, someone he liked and valued as a friend.

Clark sighed as he gazed at Lois through the glass. She was already asleep; he could hear her slow, deep breathing from inside. The rise and fall of her chest solidified his theory. If he was daring he might've snuck inside but he wasn't, so he remained on the ledge.

(--)

Lois woke early the next day. Apparently Chloe's suggestion hadn't worked because Lois still had an uneasy feeling in her stomach about the wedding. She brushed the thoughts away and pushed the covers from her body. Throwing her feet over the edge, Lois sat upright on the bed. Her eyes were drawn to the window where she had thought she'd sensed someone the night before. The feeling was gone but she couldn't help to wonder if she had been correct.

It was nearly two hours later that she was on the dusty road toward the Kent Farm, a place that she'd scarcely visited since her engagement. She was on a mission, determined to catch Martha before she headed into Metropolis to pick up the flowers for the ceremony.

Her red car sped at slightly excessive speeds up the driveway of the Kent's home. Throwing her purse over her shoulder, Lois slammed the car door closed and walked up the porch steps. She'd never been accustomed to knocking so it was a good thing that the Kent's never expected it of her.

She opened the screen door and escorted herself inside the brightly lit kitchen. A quick glance proved to her that Martha had already left. But staring at her, gallon of milk still held to his lips, frozen as she had burst through the door, was none other than Clark himself.

Lois stopped and blinked at him. He removed the milk from his mouth, replaced the cap and put it back in the fridge, before swallowing and turning to face her. Lois had to focus her eyes on his face to keep from looking at his bare chest. Certainly she'd seen him in further states of undress but never when her thoughts had been so concerned with him.

"Hey Lois," Clark said casually, surprised by her visit. He'd expected that he wouldn't see her until well after the honeymoon, and probably very sporadically after that. Something had changed, she was different, and he knew that it had to do with their 'ducks' conversation.

"Clark, what're you doing here?" Lois asked.

"Uh, I live here," Clark reminded her, motioning to the kitchen they were currently standing in.

"Right," Lois said quickly, feeling stupid.

"So," Clark stepped forward, to which Lois stepped backward. Okay, so maybe he was her type after all…

"So," Lois nodded.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Clark commented.

"Yeah, it's been a long time," Lois felt a twinge of guilt; it had been her fault that they hadn't spoken more than a four word sentence to one another in months.

"How are you?" Clark asked, genuine concern spilling from his eyes. So maybe he was kind of in love with Lois.

"Good…fine…okay," Lois answered, "You?"

"Good," Clark began, "Fine…okay…"

"I was, uh, looking for you're mom," Lois said, glancing around the room in case her earlier conclusion was incorrect.

"She's at the church," Clark replied, slightly choking on the final word.

"Oh, did she already get the flowers?" Lois queried, meeting Clark's gaze. She had to swallow hard to keep calm.

"Um, no, she's going after," Clark answered.

"Oh," Lois nodded.

"So, tomorrow's the big day," Clark said with a smile that even Lois saw was more for conversation's sake.

"Yup…"

"I'm--I--Oliver's a great guy; you two are going to be really happy together."

"Yeah, thanks; I mean, I hope so," Lois smiled. "You're invited, you know?"

"To what?" Clark asked.

"To the wedding, you're invited."

"Oh, yeah, I R.S.V.P.ed already…

"Oh, Chloe's handling that. I don't actually really know whose coming," Lois said, somewhat to herself.

"Mostly Oliver's friends…?"

"Yeah, well, you know, most of my friends are here in Smallville, but other than that…it's fine, I like Ollie's friends, it's just…"

"They're not your friends," Clark offered.

"Yeah…" Lois shrugged, "whatever."

Clark smiled.

"So, I think I'm gonna go try and catch your mom at the church," she said heading back toward the door.

"Yeah, she said that flower shop wasn't open until noon, so…"

"So…see ya around Smallville," Lois said smiling.

"Tomorrow," Clark replied. Lois beamed before turning around completely and walking to the door. She was halfway through when she turned back, a frown on her face.

"Clark," she looked up at him, "is there any reason why I shouldn't marry Ollie tomorrow?"

Clark felt his throat tighten. He may not love Lois, but that didn't mean he wanted her to marry Oliver, or anyone for that matter. But he couldn't be selfish, he had let Lana make her choice, and he would let Lois do the same. Steeling himself against letting another woman in his life go, Clark put on a smile.

"No," he said.

Lois nodded slowly. Clark thought he saw pain in her eyes, but he wrote it off as wishful thinking. Lois smiled softly at him before turning again and walking away. After he heard her car start and head off down the driveway, Clark let out a devastated sigh.

He'd had the chance; the chance to tell Lois the truth; he didn't want her to marry Oliver, because while Oliver was a good guy, he wasn't good enough for Lois. He'd left her without so much as an explanation and then returned expecting things to be exactly as they had before.

Not to mention that maybe he felt a little bit more for Lois than he was admitting to…But if he couldn't have Lois for himself, at least he was going to do something to help. He went upstairs to change before running toward Metropolis, running toward the Clock Tower and Queen Industries…

(--)

Lois drove toward the church at speeds that the sheriff would've wet himself at, but she didn't care. She was miserable and she couldn't explain why. As she pulled into the chapel parking lot, she located Martha's car and pulled into the spot next to it. Shutting off the car, Lois leaned back in her seat.

Suddenly, the world felt heavy on her shoulders. The air was oppressive, filling her lungs, choking her into tears. Tears that were unexplained, and yet she had a pretty good idea why she was crying.

She might not have loved Clark, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be okay with her marrying Oliver, with marrying anyone for that matter. She pressed her forehead against the steering wheel and sobbed, until a knock on the window startled her.

Martha Kent was standing outside the window, concern splashed across her face. She opened the door and knelt in front of Lois. The older woman didn't ask why Lois was crying, she simply wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl and cooed slightly in her ear.

After a little while, Martha coaxed Lois from the car and into the church. Lois kept her composure and even began to sound happy when they were discussing the plan for that evening. Lois was to stay at the church with the wedding planner until that evening when they would have the rehearsal before dinner at the Kent's. Lois calmed herself, there was too much to be done, and if Clark didn't want her, she knew someone else definitely did.

(--)

TBC...in Chapter 2: Secrets and Flanel Sheets...

A/N: I wrote all this stuff before but I swear I've changed it about forty times; this is my first Smallville fic and I really want it to be good. I hope you're enjoying it! I know I am!


	3. Secrets and Flanel Sheets

Disclaimer: I own nothing…

Summary: "Clark," she looked up at him, "is there any reason why I shouldn't marry Ollie tomorrow?"… "No," he said.

(--)

It was nearly six when Clark arrived at the church. He had found that the Clock Tower was empty; apparently Oliver was off at a meeting. His mother had called and asked that he come for support, even though he wasn't going to be in the ceremony. When she'd called she said Lois needed all of her friends and as Clark was a pretty important one, he ought to be there. And if he didn't show, Martha was going to make him sleep in the barn for a week.

Fearing the wrath of his mother more than anything, Clark had consented to attending the rehearsal, despite his desire to be away from the daunting ache in his heart. Still, as he entered the chapel, he couldn't help but feel slightly cheered by the flowers and decorations.

Everyone else was already there and getting ready for their practice run, so Clark went around the back and found a seat near the front of the church. He watched as the wedding planner directed Bart and Victor to their positions beside Oliver. Ollie gave Clark a nod, to which he replied with a grin.

The wedding planner scurried to the back and started humming the wedding march loudly as Martha strode down the aisle. She was acting as the mother of the bride, and she was soaking it up. Clark smiled when he saw his mother beaming. He knew that she had always wanted a daughter of her own, and Lois was pretty much the closest thing she'd ever had.

Next Lucy and Chloe walked down the aisle, holding invisible bouquets in their hands. Once they reached they alter, Lucy sat down and Chloe took her place opposite Oliver. They all turned toward the back of the church, and Clark felt his breath hitch. Lois and the General began their slow walk down the aisle.

As they approached, Clark stood up and caught Lois' eye. She seemed to freeze for a moment. After blinking quickly, she looked away and continued to Oliver's side. Clark let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

Lois and Oliver turned as the wedding planner ran up to the alter and stood in front of them. She began conducting the ceremony as if she was the priest. Martha sat beside Lucy and couldn't help but toss a few glances at her son. She felt something bad fizzling in the air around this wedding. She knew the look on her son's face, and while she didn't have super powers like him, she could still see the periodic glances Lois was throwing at him from her spot.

After the wedding planner announced that Lois and Oliver had been married, she instructed them to kiss. Martha held her breath as Lois and Oliver leaned together. She released it when they connected and slumped back into her chair. Lucy glanced over at her, eyebrow raised.

Clark stared at Lois, their eyes met as she kissed Oliver. Clark blinked once, breaking the connection before turning away, looking at his feet, crammed slightly uncomfortably into the pew. The wedding planner instructed everyone in the room to clap as Lois and Oliver broke apart and turned to face the audience.

Chloe's brilliant smile faltered when she glanced at Lois' face. The brunette had a smile on her face, but Chloe saw traces of unrest in her cousin's eyes. The blonde grabbed Lois' hand and squeezed it. Lois turned her head to her cousin, Chloe's smile was encouraging and Lois' frown softened.

The wedding planner pushed Oliver and Lois down off the alter. Lois glared back at her, but the woman was smiling widely and Lois could only roll her eyes. The wedding planner had been Lucy's idea anyway, Lois hadn't thought she needed a wedding planner, they were only having like eight people at the wedding; _yeah right_, Lois thought, _that was the plan_. She had only wanted ten people at the wedding: her and Ollie, Lucy and the General, the Kents, Chloe and Jimmy, Victor and Bart.

That was what she had wanted; unfortunately, now there were nearly a hundred people coming, most of whom she didn't know. They were all Ollie's business partners, his investors and their wives and their bratty children. Lois cringed, even as she was walking down the aisle of the church, even as she glanced back toward Clark, who had remained in the front pew, while the others had followed her and Ollie.

"Alright everyone!" Martha announced after they had congregated at the door of the church, "Dinner is just about ready, so everybody better head back there now!" She smiled as they group began their exodus from the church.

As he saw the blonde man walk by, Clark had a sudden surge of courage. He grabbed Oliver's arm and pulled him to the corner of the church. Oliver shrugged at Lois who was frowning after them. She was torn from spying by Chloe who pressed a palm to her arm. She smiled at her cousin and the pair exited the church.

"Ah, hey, Clark, okay!" Oliver rubbed the slight pain from his arm when Clark removed his hand.

"You have to tell her," Clark said forcefully.

"I assume you're talking about telling Lois my secret," Oliver inferred.

"Yes, Oliver, you can't marry her without telling her who you are."

"Since when did you feel so strongly about me telling her? You helped me throw her off, remember?" Oliver pointed out. Clark looked away; Oliver was right. But that didn't make it okay not to tell Lois about it now.

"She deserves to know what she's getting herself into," Clark answered, "You owe her that much, Oliver."

"Look, Clark, I love Lois, I'm not going to jeopardize my wedding tomorrow by freaking her out."

"Oliver, you cannot seriously be able to stand there, knowing that she had no clue who you really are, and be okay with that, can you?"

Oliver frowned slightly, looking at the floor beside Clark's shoe. When his gaze connected once more with Clark's, Oliver seemed to have resolved his inner turmoil about Lois, a small smile graced his mouth.

"No, you're right, Clark, I'll tell her tonight," Oliver said, "now, if you'll allow it, I'd like to head over to your house and sample some of your mom's famous cooking before Bart eats your entire fridge."

Clark nodded and plastered a smile on his face, but inside he had a bad feeling about the situation. He knew Lois wouldn't take Oliver's confession lying down. She was a fighter and Clark knew this better than anyone. Tonight would be the test of her devotion to Oliver, he was sure of it.

Taking off, Clark ran towards the farm, one thing on his mind: being there for Lois.

(--)

Martha made sure there was enough food for everyone, unfortunately with Bart and Clark at the table, there was barely enough for everyone else. Still, the woman sitting at the head of the table watched her extended family with proud eyes. She smiled as she gazed at Chloe and Jimmy, the blonde giggling quietly between them, as her boyfriend said something presumably witty.

It was nice to see the General and Lucy actually engaged in a conversation that didn't include the words: 'failure', 'irresponsible' or 'disappointment'. Martha's eyes traveled across the table to three boys in deep debate about the benefits of Mrs. K's cooking versus Victor's cooking. She laughed as the former football star attempted to defend himself against the onslaught of his friends.

The only two people who seemed to be having a tapered amount of fun were Lois and Clark. Lois was concentrating on her plate, periodically shifting her eyes toward Clark, who was staring pointedly at her. Martha whispered her son's name so quiet that she knew only he could hear. As she had predicted, Clark heard her even over the ruckus and looked at his mother. She silently told him to back off. He looked away but he concentrated on his plate instead of Lois.

After dinner, Martha stood in the kitchen, wiping dishes with Lois, when Oliver walked in carrying plates. The young blonde man was staring at Lois, who was smiling falsely at her soon-to-be husband. Martha got the 'non-verbals', as Lois would call them, and excused herself from the room. She was tempted to ask Clark to add his ears to the conversation, with the intention of making sure Lois was all right, but she thought better of it.

"Hey," Oliver said.

"Hi," Lois replied placing a clean plate on the drying rack.

"We need to talk about something, Lo," Oliver began.

"Yeah, I think so to," Lois agreed.

"Oh, okay, you first."

"No, no, you came here, you go," Lois urged. Oliver walked around her and leaned on the side of the marble counter.

"A couple of months ago, you and Jimmy had a lead on something pretty big," Oliver explained. Lois nodded.

"The Green Arrow."

"Yeah, and you were convinced that it was me."

"Yeah, but I was wrong."

"Maybe not entirely…" Oliver hesitated with the rest. Lois looked up, her eyebrows raised. "See, the night in the alley, that wasn't me; but the other times, it was…"

"What?!" Lois exclaimed.

"I'm the Green Arrow," Oliver finished.

"Uh, yeah, got that," Lois snapped, "and when were going to tell me?"

"Well, I just did," Oliver looked genuinely hurt by her callous tone. Lois couldn't control herself though. She started out of the kitchen, but Oliver grabbed her arm. Shrugging him off, Lois walked out of the room, leaving Ollie slightly unsure of himself for only the second time in his life.

(--)

Lois walked up the wooden stairs that she'd grown used to climbing everyday. She secretly missed those lazy days when she was partially attending Smallville High and digging up mysteries with Clark and Chloe; when Lois was permanent fixture in the Kent household, despite Clark; when Mr. Kent was still alive.

An ache in her heart stopped Lois on the stairs. She glanced at the framed picture of Clark, Martha and Jonathon that was visible on a table on the landing. They looked so happy; Clark was still young, and short. He was standing in front of his two proud parents, with the familiar barn in the background. Part of Lois wished that she'd been in the picture as well. The Kents were, after all, her surrogate family.

She missed the days when her life was easy, when Ollie hadn't just dropped a bomb on her that felt like the world was crashing around her. She'd convinced herself earlier that day--when she'd had her rare, yet violent, breakdown--that Oliver wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. That he was completely honest with her, and then he happened to mention that he was the Green Arrow…but not the one she'd made out with in the alley. No, that was someone different. And Lois thought Clark was the one with the hero-complex!

She completed her ascent of the Kent stairs and paused briefly, she didn't really know where she was going. They weren't staying at the Kents, well, she, Lucy and Chloe weren't. Martha and the guys were taking up residence there and in the barn. So, really, she had no reason for being upstairs, she didn't live there anymore…but…she still felt like a little bit of that house belonged to her.

It wasn't like she was snooping; she'd spent almost two years in that room. She would just be using it as some place to get away. She would keep to herself, stay on the bed. Setting her resolve, she turned the knob on the door, and let herself into Clark's bedroom.

Even though over a year had passed since Lois had set foot in the room, nothing had changed. She smiled faintly at the constant that was the world of Clark Kent. Normally, she would have seen it as evidence that Clark was just a hick with a predestined life of agriculture, but at the moment, Lois found it as a comfort.

Sighing, she sat down on the edge of Clark's messy bed. She placed a palm on the rumpled sheets. Closing her eyes, Lois pictured her days romping around Smallville with Clark. She smiled again, this time with more resolve, as she recalled embarrassing Clark after their 'separate showers' incident. A quiet knock at the door broke Lois from her reverie. She looked up as Oliver stepped inside.

"Hi," he said.

"I don't really want to talk right now, Ollie," Lois replied, looking away. He didn't take the hint.

"Lois--."

She cut him off, standing, "Now Ollie? You tell me now, the night before our wedding?"

Ollie tensed, getting irritated, _damn Clark_, he thought miserably, "Look, Lois, I didn't even want to tell you!"

"What?! Wait, you weren't going to tell me? You were going to let me marry you without knowing that you were the Green Arrow," Lois inquired.

"Lois, I love you, I didn't think it would matter who I was," Oliver said.

Lois stopped. She'd been so busy ranting, angry at Oliver and missing her old life, that she'd forgotten that Oliver was getting married tomorrow too. It was his life that was being drastically altered as well. Suddenly, the world felt heavy again. She wanted to cry. She couldn't remember a time when she'd felt like crying as often as she had that day.

"I love you too, Ollie, but I can't--you know what, I just need some time," Lois said, turning her back on him.

She felt Oliver's eyes boring through the back of her skull. She took deep breaths and heard the creak of the floor boards as he stepped toward her. She didn't pull away when he put his hand on her arm, instead she looked down at it, but her eyes saw through it. She felt empty.

"Tomorrow?" he asked cautiously.

"Tomorrow is a new day," Lois replied cryptically. Oliver nodded although she didn't see it. Without another word, Oliver left the room, closing the door behind him. Suddenly exhausted, Lois returned to her position on Clark's bed. She flipped her legs over the edge and stretched them out along the sheets. She laid her head against the pillow and let her eyelids slide closed.

A soft knock at the door didn't surprise her, but she did open her eyes. She didn't roll over but she knew who was standing at the door.

"Lois?" Clark whispered, "I heard yelling, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Smallville," Lois said, harsher than she had planned. It occurred to her that she was definitely invading his private space. She no longer lived in this room. It was his once more.

"Sorry," he replied and began out of the room. Lois shook her head, sitting up and swinging her legs back over the side, she glanced at Clark.

"No, I should go. I just needed to get away for a minute," Lois explained, standing.

"I understand," Clark replied, smiling softly.

"I think I'm gonna go home, can you tell your Mom for me?" Lois asked stepping past him into the hallway. Clark stood in the doorway of his room, facing the woman he'd been so obsessed with for the past few months, and he realized, watching her, seeing the signs of tears in her eyes, that whether he loved her or not, it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was the person she cried in front of. And that meant so much more to him than her ever reciprocating his feelings.

"Yeah, sure," Clark said. His heart broke to see her like that; "Tell me you're all right, Lois," he demanded. Lois was taken aback by his tone. She'd never heard him speak to her like that. She stepped back, frowning at him.

"I'm fine," she lied. She looked at the floor briefly before walking off down the stairs, leaving Clark alone by his room, breathing heavily.


	4. Pillow Talks

Summary: "Now Ollie? You tell me now, the night before our wedding?"

Disclaimer: I own the plot bunnies…

(--)

Chloe hadn't slept well. It was the reason she was sitting at the island drinking a jumbo-sized cup of coffee at six-thirty in the morning on the day of Lois' wedding. She sighed and stared out the window above the sink.

Lois was her best friend, and her cousin, and Chloe loved her dearly, but she was so afraid that Lois was going to do something crazy. It wasn't difficult to tell that something had definitely been off the previous night. Lois, and Clark, as a matter of fact, had been acting very strangely, even stranger than they had for the past few months.

Chloe had only heard a few of the details since both Lois and Clark had been extremely tight-lipped about the whole thing. It seemed odd to Chloe, however, that Clark was suddenly very quiet about his problems. With Lana, Clark had opened up to Chloe, explaining every incident, obsessing over every conversation, and while Chloe had secretly hated it for her own selfish reasons, she had valued the fact that Clark talked to her. Now, she felt lost, out of the loop, and she didn't like it.

The sound of someone sighing drew her attention to the couch; Lucy was stretching her arms above her head. She cracked her eyes open and smiled at her cousin. The blonde smiled back. Pulling blankets off her torso, Lucy sat up and yawned widely. In another movement she was on her feet and walking toward the island.

"What's up, cuz? You look like your thinking about something," Lucy asked, pouring coffee from the pot into a large cup.

"Nothing," Chloe replied, "I'm just thinking about Lois."

"You worried about today too?" Lucy questioned, sitting down on the stool beside Chloe.

"Yeah, she's--I don't know--I'm worried about her--I don't think she loves Oliver anymore," Chloe replied.

"Did she ever?"

"Maybe, once upon a time…"

"I think they're in love," Lucy stated abruptly.

"Who, not Lois and Oliver," Chloe frowned.

"No, Lois and Clark," Lucy replied.

Chloe gave her a disbelieving smile; but Chloe couldn't deny that she'd been thinking the same thing. She knew Clark well enough to know his different moods, and this one was definitely familiar, if not entirely recognizable. She sipped her coffee as her mind turned over the affirmation Lucy had given her.

"I have a bad feeling about today," Lucy said.

"Me too," Chloe replied, giving her cousin a look.

(--)

Lois rolled over, blinking furiously at the light penetrating her eyelids. She finally opened her eyes and stared at her alarm clock. It was just about seven o'clock, she should have been getting up and getting ready to get married, but she couldn't move.

She buried her head into her pillow, inhaling the scent of the sheets. She silently wished they smelled different...even though she hadn't intened to, she suddenly thought of Clark and tears sprang to her eyes again but she didn't let them fall. She was strong, and she was sick of crying. She threw her covers off and sat up. A knock at the door drew her attention. Chloe quietly let herself inside and smiled at Lois. The brunette smiled back.

"Hey, how's the bride-to-be?" Chloe asked, handing her cousin a cup of coffee, and sitting down on the bed beside her.

"Tired," Lois replied.

"Me too," Chloe agreed.

"You didn't sleep well either?" Lois asked.

"No, I woke up early, that's all," Chloe assured her, "you okay?"

"I miss talking to him," Lois said softly. Chloe didn't need Lois to explain any further to know exactly what she was talking about. She glanced skyward and said a silent thanks that Lois could confide in her.

"I know, but things are going to get better, they have to," Chloe said, taking her cousin's free hand and squeezing it.

"I hope so, Chloe, I don't think I can do this without him," Lois stated. It surprised Chloe how honest Lois was being about her feelings toward Clark. The blonde had never heard Lois speak so openly about how much she cared about Clark or how much she valued their friendship. Sure, Chloe had always known how close they were, but she had never heard Lois actually admit to needing him. Chloe saw things fall into place in front of her eyes.

"He'll be there Lois," Chloe began.

"Yeah…" Lois trailed off into her thoughts, leaving Chloe to watch her cousin with sad eyes.

"Things are going to be okay, Lois, you have to believe that," Chloe said softly, squeezing Lois' hand tighter.

Lois stared at the white dress hanging against her closet door. She steeled her resolve and smiled at Chloe. The blonde took it as confirmation.

"Okay, time to get dressed then; Lucy's warming up the curling iron," Chloe stood and padded back toward the main room. She was in delegation mode now, and everyone was in her jurisdiction, including the bride. Lois couldn't help but smile seeing her cousin like this. The thought made her spirits rise, but she was still feeling a little uneasy.

Brushing the thoughts away, she took a sip of her coffee and walked out of the room.

(--)

He could still smell the scent of her shampoo on his pillow. It had kept him awake the whole night. He could feel where she had laid, after so long, back in his bed. He had been plagued by dreams of her, memories of all the times he'd had a chance and never taken it.

Opening his eyes he stared at the tux hanging on his door. He hated Oliver. He hated this wedding. He hated Lana for blinding him for so long when the whole time Lois was right in front of him. But mostly, he hated himself. He'd been so obsessed with things that he couldn't have that he'd never even realized how he'd held onto Lois; and now she was going to marry Oliver Queen.

The world hated him.

His mother pushed the door open with the tray of breakfast she was carrying. Clark sat up slowly, tired by the lack of sleep he had craved. Martha set the tray down on the bed and sat next to him. Her motherly concern face was firmly in place and she wasn't going to leave the room until she found out exactly what was going on.

"It's not fair Mom," Clark said forcefully.

"Nothing ever is, Sweetheart," Martha replied.

"She doesn't love him," Clark stated.

"I know."

"Then why is she marrying him?"

"Clark…" Martha's heart broke for her son; the poor boy had the worst luck with love, every time he found someone he truly cared about, they were unavailable, "You have to stop beating yourself up, you can't stop Lois if she's set her mind to it, no matter what she feels."

"But Mom, she knows how I feel," Clark said.

"Are you sure? I know that you think you're just being subtle but sometimes I think people don't always get that when you say you don't care about them that you really do." Clark wanted to smile at his mother's joke but he couldn't do it, there was too much that kept him frowning.

"But you said it yourself: she'll marry him just because she's decided to. She never second guesses herself."

"And she'll marry Oliver today, as long as she thinks you don't care. Whether she feels the same way about you or not, perhaps you telling her not to marry him will change her mind," Martha said softly.

Clark looked at his mother with adoration. He knew she thought that trying to break up Lois' wedding was wrong, but she still told him to try. Martha had disliked Oliver as much as Clark when he came back. It was unfair to Lois, forcing her to let go of him, then returning and promising her a life that he couldn't give her.

Clark knew what he had to try to do. He would do it to protect Lois from a life she didn't want or deserve. He wouldn't let her become Lana. He was certain of that. He would be honest with her, tell her the truth about him. Maybe knowing that would make her reconsider.

(--)

Lois stared at her reflection in the long mirror in her bathroom. Her face was stoic, her eyes empty as she analyzed the face staring back her. She looked tired, more than she had in years, tired and sad.

"We're leaving Lois," Lucy called through the door. She stepped back as it opened, "you coming?"

"No," Lois replied. Lucy frowned, "Dad wanted me to wait for him. He wanted to drive me to the church and everything."

Lucy's frown didn't disappear, instead it deepened; her sense of worry increased staring at her sister. But Lois' face didn't change. He smile was still plastered in place and Lucy had no proof that it was false besides the feeling in her stomach.

"Okay, well, then, we'll meet you there," Lucy said slowly. Lois nodded, smiling wider, as Lucy and headed out the door to Chloe and her car.

When her sister disappeared from sight, Lois threw the door to her bedroom open. She hurried over to her bed and grabbed a suitcase from underneath it. She dropped the suitcase on the bed and unzipped it. She ran over to her dresser and grabbed clothes out of it, clothes which she unceremoniously threw into the suitcase. She was coming out of the bathroom with shampoo and toiletries when she stopped short.

Clark was standing in the middle of her room. He wore a confused look on his face at the sight of her suitcase. She shifted her gaze from side to side before looking back him, their eyes meeting.

"You're leaving," he stated simply.

"I can't marry him Clark," Lois replied, not moving.

"I know…that's what I came here to tell you," Clark answered.

"Really? Why?"

"You don't love him."

Lois nodded. It was always a little unsettling--although a comfort--that Clark knew her so well. But she still hated uncomfortable silences, so she stepped forward and threw her stuff into the suitcase, zipping it up.

"Don't try to stop me, Smallville.'

"I wasn't planning on it. Where are you going to go?" he inquired.

"I don't know. I'm kind of working on a step-by-step basis here." She slung her suitcase over her shoulder and walked to the door.

"Good luck," Clark offered. Lois held her hand out to the handle of the apartment door. Her mind was reeling. She was running away from her wedding. She was going to be alone. The thought frightened her and she couldn't explain why. She stopped and turned to him.

"Come with me," she said.

"What?"

"Come with me, Smallville." Lois' eyes told him she was dead serious. He stared at her in awe. He didn't know what to say.

"Please," she continued.

"Okay," he choked out. Lois' face broke into a smile. She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the apartment, down the stairs and through the Talon. Glancing from to side to side out the door, Lois announced that the cost was clear and lead Clark from the building. Her car was parked nearby and as the pair approached it, Lois threw her bag into the trunk and took the wheel. Clark hesitated only a second before climbing into the car next to her.

"You ready?" Lois asked turning on the engine.

"There's no turning back now," Clark replied. Lois gave him a warm smile, which he returned heartily.

"Damn straight!" she said gunning the engine.

(--)

Sorry for the long wait. With work and getting ready for college I've been busy, things should cool down now as long as I don't get writer's block!


	5. MIA and South of Nowhere

Chapter 4: MIA and South of Nowhere

Summary: "You're leaving," he stated simply. "Come with me," she said.

Disclaimer: I own the plot bunnies…

(--)

_If one day you want to run away, don't be afraid, just call me. I can't promise I'll make you stop, but I can run with you.  
-Unknown_

(--)

Chloe passed the brush over her cheek once more, adding the last touches of her make-up. She fixed a misshapen curl in her blonde hair and slid a finger against her glossed lips. Satisfied that she looked good enough for Lois' wedding, she stepped back from the mirror.

The church was impressive. The main hall was gothic and extravagant, but the inner rooms were simple. Warm wood paneling and soft colors gave the place a homey feel to it. Chloe wouldn't have minded staying there for some time. She smiled to herself, letting out a relieved breath. It was almost over, this whole day; in a few hours Lois and Oliver would be off on their honeymoon, happily married and content.

A gentle knock on the door drew Chloe's attention. She brushed down the skirt of her green dress and opened the massive wooden door. Martha Kent was standing outside, wearing a cream-colored suit. Chloe gave her a warm smile.

"Everyone's starting to arrive," Martha said softly. _Why does everyone whisper in churches?_ Chloe thought to herself as she nodded and followed Martha through the dim hallways of the church. Chloe admired the stained glass windows as they passed them, refracting the light, creating bright shadows on the floor.

The pair stopped when they reached the entrance hall to the church. Lucy, Bart and the General were already there. The double doors to the main hall were closed, but they had already paired up. Lucy and Bart had their arms linked, poised before the doors, waiting for them to open. Chloe froze, frowning as Martha moved into position behind the pair. _Where's Lois?_ she thought, looking from side to side.

"Um, where's Lois?" Chloe asked aloud.

The General turned to her, "Probably still in her room, that damn girl, late for her own wedding!" Chloe hid her eye roll from her uncle, turning on her heel she walked the hundred feet back to Lois' dressing room. She knocked softly on the door. There was no answer. She tried again; still nothing. Panic began to rise in Chloe's chest. She knocked a third time; not a sound came in response. Taking the handle, Chloe pushed the door open. Lois was not inside. Chloe began to panic even more. She hurried into the room.

"Lois?" she called, "Lois, are you in here?"

No answer.

Chloe's eyes grew large. This was not good. She darted out of the room and back toward the waiting processional. The General looked up as Chloe reached them, slightly out of breath, less from running and more from the fact that she thought she was going have a heart attack.

"Well?" The General inquired, indicating Lois' continual absence. Chloe placed a hand on her chest, an act which drew Martha's worried look. The older woman walked over and placed her arms around Chloe's shoulders.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Martha asked.

The scene had now drawn the attention of Lucy and Bart who moved over to the small circle that had formed around Chloe. They all waited patiently as Chloe caught her breath. When she finally looked up at them, she couldn't speak.

"Chloe…where is Lois?" The General asked slowly, though by this point, everyone had a pretty good idea.

"She's gone." Chloe answered. Martha's eyes grew wide; Lucy's hand flew to her mouth, Bart's jaw dropped, and the General's eyes flared. As Chloe inhaled the sound of violins began to echo through the stone walls of the church. The group turned to the double doors still closed.

"What are we going to do?" Lucy asked, panic in her voice.

"Well, Lois isn't here so…" Bart said his tone a non-verbal 'duh'.

"Yes, thank you, Bart, we're now all aware that Lois isn't here," Chloe snapped.

"Chloe," Martha warned, frowning. It didn't stop them though. Bart started to defend himself, as both Lucy and Chloe lashed at him. Martha attempted to break up the fight but only got more involved.

"All right," The General said, calling order as he stepped into the group, "Here's the plan: Bart, go inform Oliver, Lucy, you and I will go search for Lois, Martha and Chloe go stall the rest of the guests. We'll call you when we find her. Dismissed!"

Lucy and the General hurried out the door into the sunlight. Bart nodded to Martha and Chloe before super-speeding around the corner to go tell Oliver. Martha and Chloe glanced at once another before opening the double doors. Every head in the building turned to stare at the two women standing in the doorway. With a breath, both of them started up the aisle at a speed that the made the wedding planner frown.

The audience's heads followed them until they reached the Alter. Some people started whispering amongst themselves, as Chloe stepped in front of the microphone. She glanced sideways, confirming that Oliver was no longer standing nearby.

"Hi, everybody," Chloe started, waving sheepishly, "um, I'm Chloe Sullivan, uh, the Maid of Honor, I hope you're all enjoying yourselves. Uh, we've had a slight hiccup."

Martha glanced at people in the audience; she didn't know most of them. Some she recognized as senators and mayors from nearby cities and towns. Her eyes scanned the rows, every single seat every single face. There was one missing.

"So, if you'll all stay seated, we should hopefully begin the ceremony in a few minutes." Martha tapped Chloe on the shoulder, the blonde looked at her. Martha leaned over to her ear.

"Clark's not here," she whispered. Chloe pulled back, her eyes wide. She turned back to the audience, her own eyes scanning the crowd. Martha was right. Clark was gone too.

"If you'll excuse us," Chloe finally said. She and Martha stepped off the Alter, and hurried back down the aisle, once again every head in the place following after them. As the wooden doors closed, the room erupted in voices.

Chloe and Martha found Oliver, Victor and Bart in Lois' room. Oliver was banging on the door to the adjoining bathroom, but there was obviously no answer. The guys looked up as Martha and Chloe entered the room.

"How could she be gone?" Oliver inquired, walking from the room, the others following him, Chloe by his side.

"Well, she told Lucy that her father was going to drive her; we haven't seen her since. I assumed she was in her room," Chloe explained.

"Well she didn't just disappear!" Oliver snapped.

"Oliver," Martha chastised, "we are all aware of this. Lucy and General Lane are trying to find her now, just be patient."

"Patient?! My fiancé is missing and I'm supposed to be patient?! How am I supposed to do that?" Oliver turned away from them, and instantly Martha sympathized with the young man. It made her hesitate to continue, but at the same time she knew Oliver deserved to hear it all.

"There's more," she began, "Clark's missing too."

Oliver's head rose. Chloe and Martha looked at one another, mimicking the looks Bart and Victor were exchanging. The blonde man didn't reply, instead he pushed the door of the church open and walked outside. Victor and Bart followed him, and after a moment, so did Chloe. Martha stayed behind a moment.

"Oh, Clark," she said softly, shaking her head, "what did you do?"

(--)

Lois was focused on the road ahead. She was blatantly ignoring the man sitting beside her. She felt guilty about it too because she had asked him to come with her, but this wasn't a trip she had planned with company. It was meant to allow her some peace from Smallville, from Oliver, and mostly from Clark.

It had been a split second decision, one that she hadn't even thought about when she had turned to him and asked him to go with her, to run away from his home with her, just because she was getting cold feet.

It was more than that, she knew, but self-flagellation felt a lot better when you had ammunition. She brushed a hair behind her ear, gripping the wheel with the other hand tightly. She chanced an eye shift at her companion. He was staring straight ahead, an open map sitting in his lap. For the first few minutes, Clark had tried to navigate Lois out of Smallville and through the routes of Kansas, something she secretly appreciated, but a disagreement about which direction to head had landed them in silence.

He was smiling faintly and Lois couldn't help but grin at his calm. She had literally dragged him away from his entire world; yeah, she had pretty much crossed from charmingly crazy to psychotically unstable. This was all true and yet Clark was sitting beside her, perfectly at ease with their situation. Lois briefly wondered if he'd been drinking the cough syrup again.

"So," he began, breaking the silence, he glanced out his window, "where are we going?"

"I don't Smallville, I figured I'd just go wherever I get the urge," Lois replied, giving him a smile.

"Well, we should be nearing Metropolis soon," Clark said looking at the map, "and we're going to need a place to stop for the night, unless you decide to live out of the car again." Lois tossed a half-hearted glare at him, before turning her eyes back to the road.

"Well, then _Columbus_ find us a motel," Lois said, her smile back.

Clark grinned at her then turned back to the map. He held it up to his face and searched the tiny area that was labeled Metropolis for someplace they could stay. A laughed erupted from his companion, Clark looked up. Her laugh was hearty and it made Clark feel warm inside. He hadn't seen her this happy in so long.

When her laughter finally subsided, she grabbed the edge of the map, "Hey Brainiac," she flipped the map to the reverse side, "turn it over." Clark found that the small area of Metropolis had been blown up to include street names and buildings. He felt instantly stupid, but Lois was laughing again. She quieted after a moment and he returned to inspecting the map.

"So, have you talked to Oliver?" he said. Immediately, he regretted doing so. The wound was too fresh and Lois didn't like to talk about her problems, she wasn't him. He always felt comfort in talking to people, his mother, Chloe, even Lois herself.

He assumed Lois would explode, tell him to stay out of her business, that he had no right to say anything, and how dare he think he was in any way important enough to talk to about it. But she surprised him yet again.

"Don't go there Smallville," she replied quietly. He looked over at her, she was staring dead ahead. He felt guilty, they had been so comfortable before, even their previous silence had been companionable, but he had crossed a line and now he had to pay for it. He'd definitely lost yardage with her.

He looked to the map, "There's a place just on the other side of the city," he said.

She didn't reply.

"I'm sorry," he continued. She turned to him, the smallest of smiles on her lips.

"The other side? Sounds good," Lois finally said. In that statement, Clark knew she had forgiven him, and he thanked her. He turned back to the road as she did.

"Stay straight."

(--)

It took them forty minutes to drive though downtown Metropolis, twenty of which were Lois cursing at the other drivers. Clark could only laugh; he valued his physical being too much to remind her that the people couldn't hear her. When they finally pulled up to the motel, Lois was in a fit of unprecedented rage. She stalked into the main office, leaving Clark to follow behind.

The motel was more of a complex; smaller rooms with a kitchenette and bathroom in each, all surrounding a main building, the building which Clark and Lois had just entered. Standing behind the counter was a middle-aged woman with dishwater blonde hair. Her eyes were tired, and wrinkles were showing on her thin face. She looked like a no-bullshit kind of woman, but she wore a kind smile that contrasted the rest of her appearance.

"Hello," she said as Lois huffed, blowing fringe out of her eyes. Lucy and Chloe had done her hair before they left the Talon, but Lois had furiously pulled it from her head while driving through the city. Clark was grateful she hadn't taken that frustration out on him.

"Hi," Lois replied, her voice still strained.

"You'd like a room?" the woman asked. Lois turned to her, opening her mouth to bite back with a comment, but Clark intercepted, placing his hand on the counter, blocking Lois from view.

"Yes, thank you."

"A king or two queens?" the woman inquired.

"Two queens!" both Lois and Clark said at once, they exchanged a glance before Clark looked back to the woman.

"Two queens," Clark confirmed. The woman raised an eyebrow at the pair but said nothing. Instead she looked at the book on the counter. It was open to a page with a diagram of the motel complex on it. Each room was drawn out and labeled with a number; some of them had sticky notes over the numbers. Clark assumed those were the ones that were already inhabited.

"I can put you in Room 4," she said after a moment.

"That's fine. How much?" Clark reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, but the woman held up her hand.

"Pay when you check out; twenty dollars a night," she answered, she wrote something in the book, then held out two keys to them, "Come on, I'll show you."

She moved from behind the counter and walked through a door near the back of the room. Clark and Lois followed her through to a large sitting room. There were several tables set up with board games and cards scattered a top them. There was a television in the corner.

"At seven thirty we have games in here, they vary each night; most of the guests join in. I'm Elaine by the way," the woman explained, "You're welcome to join us night if you'd like."

"That sounds fun," Clark said.

"I'd rather have a root canal sans Novocain," Lois said under her breath. Clark turned and glared at her, although there was no way he could have heard her, at least she thought so, maybe she was talking louder than she thought.

They reached a small building a few hundred feet away from the main house. There was a light above the small letter box. The brass plate number on the door read '4'. Elaine pulled out a ring of ten keys and unlocked the door. She stepped aside as Lois and Clark went in.

"Thanks for your help," Clark said turning to Elaine.

She smiled as she began to close the door, "I'll be in the main house or Room 1 if you need anything." On Clark's nod, Elaine shut the door completely.

Lois dropped her bag on one of the beds. She turned around in a full circle, examining the room. Apparently, it met her approval because she didn't say anything instead she flopped down on the bed next to her bag. She lay back, staring at the ceiling.

"It wasn't that I didn't love him," she said suddenly. Clark turned around sharply; Lois was still lying on the bed, focused on the ceiling.

"I mean, I didn't," she continued, "but that wasn't the reason. I couldn't deal with the lies, the deception," she sat up abruptly, "do I sound pathetic?"

Clark walked over to the other bed. He sat down, facing her, leaning forward onto his knees, "No, relationships are built on trust; if you can't trust one another then it's not going to work out."

"Like with you and Lana," Lois offered. Clark frowned, _how does Lois know that,_ he thought.

Off his look, Lois continued, "Come on, Clark, I'm not stupid; I know you didn't tell Lana everything."

"Yeah…you're right," Clark agreed hesitantly. To Lois, it sounded as if he was finally drawing the conclusion, but in reality, he had known that for a long time, keeping his secret from Lana was the thing that had kept them apart.

"Hey, what do you say we unpack and then visit that game night or whatever?" Lois suggested.

Clark grinned, "I thought you'd rather have a root canal?" Lois opened and closed her mouth in shock, her eyes wide, but Clark continued, "Besides, I don't have anything to unpack." He motioned to his clear bed. Lois suddenly realized that they had never stopped to get Clark anything to wear. She felt instantly guilty again. She had been thinking only of herself when she took off, dragging him with her, and he never once thought of himself.

"Clark…" her voice was laced with the guilt she felt; but Clark held up a hand to keep her from continuing.

"No pity parties, remember? I'll buy some clothes," he assured her. She smiled faintly, "how 'bout I help you unpack and then we visit the game-night-thing?" Clark suggested. Her smile widened, as he took the zipper on her bag and began opening it. After a moment of watching him carefully remove her clothing and lay it on the bed beside the suitcase, Lois got to her feet and helped him.

(--)

The room was quiet as they stared at the pair in the doorway. Elaine got off her knees, leaving her two Scrabble buddies to watch her go, and walked over to Lois and Clark. Although the group was quiet, a few of the older ladies were smiling at Clark.

"Glad you decided to join us," Elaine said, she turned to the group, "These are our other tenants," she walked over to a few people playing cards, "This is Albert, Marco, and Garrett," she pointed to each and then moved onto the women sitting around a Sorry board, "This is Jane, Maggie, Mrs. Beardson, and Helen."

She walked over to the television set, where two children were sitting and an older man was asleep on the couch, "These are Jane and Marco's grandchildren, Bobby and Kara," then she pointed at the snoring man, "and this is Mr. Beardson," finally she returned to the Scrabble people, "and this is Tommy, and Ben, he's mine."

Lois waved half-heartedly, "I'm Lois, and the Hulk over here is Clark," Lois jabbed her thumb at him. He rolled his eyes but didn't comment.

"Go ahead, join a group," Elaine said. Lois and Clark glanced at one another before walking further into the room.

"You can join us over here, girly," Marco said, waving Lois to the free seat at the table. Lois smiled at Clark who was left standing alone in the center of the room. He watched Lois sit down at the table and pull her cards up to her nose. He knew she was good at poker, it was one thing the soldiers had definitely taught her all those years on the numerous bases she'd lived on. He smiled to himself, he felt sorry for the men she would beat senseless. A sudden tug on his coat drew his attention away from Lois.

It was the little girl, Kara; she was pulling on the cuff of his sleeve. He smiled and kneeled down to meet her face. Her nose nearly touched his before she spoke.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi," she replied in a high-pitched voice.

"You're Kara, aren't you?" he asked, she was frowning at him, as if studying him, "I'm Clark."

She moved her face closer to his and put her hands on his cheeks; she squished his face together and stretched it out and then asked:

"Are you an alien?"

Clark frowned slightly, and then smiled, "Shh, don't tell anyone." Kara nodded furiously.

"Will you watch T.V. with me?" she asked, taking his large hand in her tiny one.

"Sure," he replied, enclosing her hand and walking over to the couch. Kara sat down in front of it, sitting cross-legged, as Clark leaned against the edge of the couch.

Kara leaned over to him, "This is a cartoon," she explained, "kids watch them on a thing called a television, that's the box thingy." Clark almost started laughing, but instead he pretended to be listening intently to Kara explain the notion of a children's show.

Lois glanced up from her cards. Clark was sitting with the little girl and she was whispering something in his ear, to which he was nodding, his face looked as if he was being told something of grave importance. Lois' smile widened as she took in the sight. He looked so comfortable with the tiny girl, who couldn't be more than five or six.

She froze when their eyes met. He smiled, knowing that he caught her staring. She looked away, but he didn't. She could feel his eyes on her. She couldn't stop herself from meeting his eyes again. She was suddenly feeling shy, and her eyes darted away again. Thankfully, Albert had finally decided on his game plan and it was her turn.

"Miss Lois," Garrett said gently, "it's your play."

Lois turned to him, smiling, "Oh, thanks, Garrett," she replied. When she looked back at Clark, the little girl was talking to him again and he was no longer looking in her direction.

"I'll raise you ten," she said, throwing her chips into the center of the table.

"Is she an alien too?" Kara was asking Clark. This time he did laugh out loud, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, including Lois.

"No," Clark said a moment later, "I don't think," he added as an after thought.

"Well, does she know?" Kara inquired.

Clark shook his head softly, his gaze trailing back to Lois, "No, I don't think so."

"Are you going to tell her?" Clark looked back at Kara, frowning with thought.

"Would you?" he asked.

"If you love someone, you should always tell them the truth," Kara replied solemnly.

Clark nodded, biting his lip. He looked back at Lois briefly but she was focused on her card game which she was undoubtedly winning. He smiled sadly at her. It seemed she was getting along well with the men she was playing with. Her quiet laughter indicated such. Weight on his shoulder caused him to turn, but it was only Kara, laying her head there.

Clark smiled softly and settled into watching the television show.

(--)

"Lo!" the General yelled as he stood in the kitchen of the Kent Farmhouse. Lucy stood next to him, worry echoing in her face.

"Daddy, I don't think she's here," Lucy stated, placing a hand on her father's forearm.

"Well, where the hell is she?" he inquired, turning to face his younger daughter.

"I don't know, Dad." Lucy walked in the dining room and then back to the kitchen.

"When I find that girl I'm going to kill her! Disappearing without telling anyone where she was going! Running out on an expensive wedding! What was she thinking?" he slammed his fist down onto the counter, shaking the items there.

"She doesn't love him, Dad," Lucy replied softly. General Lane stopped, his rage fading, slowly his face became more worried than angry. His face broke as Lucy embraced him in a tight hug.

"She's okay, Dad, she's with Clark," Lucy assured him softly, squeezing his shoulders gently.

(--)

Someone was poking him in the ribs. He wanted to push them away but he didn't want to disturb Kara. He wanted to crawl back into his dream, to drift back into Lois' waiting arms, but his assailant was getting increasingly annoying and preventing such a return.

When he knew his wish had become impossible, he cracked an eye open. He thought for a moment that he was still dreaming, but Lois's face was real, and she was still poking him.

"Smallville," she was saying quietly, "Smallville, wake up; come on, get up."

"What is it, Lois?" he asked, his voice rough with sleep.

"They're trying to take the kid," she explained. Clark sat up with a start. Marco was holding a drowsy Bobby on his hip, and Jane was kneeling beside Lois. Clark frowned and then realized he had his arm tightly around Kara's sleeping form. He loosened his grip, allowing Jane to gather the child up in her arms.

Lois helped Clark to his feet. Clark nodded to Jane and shook Marco's offered hand. The four left the room through the back door. Elaine was shooing Ben out of the room and the younger couple, Helen and Tommy, left the room holding hands.

"They're newlyweds," Albert explained in a soft voice, "Not a lot of money, so they're honeymooning here. Elaine's giving them a discount. How 'bout you two, you newlyweds too?"

The other's gathered around the pair. Clark noticed that the Beardson's had left while he was sleeping, leaving only, Maggie, Garrett and, of course, Albert. Clark suddenly felt like the walls were closing in as the three of them stepped ever closer.

"Uh, no," Lois replied quickly, "we're just friends."

"Huh," Maggie smiled, "I remember being just friends with a guy."

"Yeah, I had a great friend, years ago too," Garrett agreed, smiling at Maggie.

"No seriously," Lois said, "Clark and I are just friends."

"Uhuh," Albert smiled devilishly. Just then Elaine walked in.

"Okay, people, let's not scare our new guests. We may never see them again if we do," she said jokingly.

"Well, I think it's time to head to bed," Maggie said gently.

"I agree," Garrett said, he offered Maggie his arm, "May I walk you to your room?"

Maggie accepted his arm, stringing hers through his, "Thank you," she turned back to the four, "Good evening everyone. Goodnight, Albert." She smiled and Lois thought she saw blush appear on his cheeks.

"Goodnight, Maggie," Albert replied. Lois narrowed her eyes at Albert once Maggie and Garrett had left the room.

"Albert," she began, "Did I sense a little tension there?"

"What?" Albert pretended that he didn't know what Lois was talking about, but even Clark could see that he did.

"I think you and Maggie may have a little thing going on," she said poking him gently in the stomach.

"No," Albert said unconvincingly, "besides what would a great woman like Maggie want with me?"

"Well, she obviously sees something there, she was giving you the look," Lois said wiggling her eyebrows.

"She was?" Albert was utterly surprised.

"Yeah, right Clark?" she looked to him to help.

"Oh, yeah," Clark nodded, enthusiastically. Lois, though, didn't seem to think he'd done enough since she rolled her eyes and turned back to Albert.

"You should ask her out," Lois suggested.

"Oh, no, she'd never say yes," Albert replied shaking his head.

"Have you ever tried?" Lois inquired.

"Well, no…"

"You never know until you try," Elaine interjected. Lois nodded, smiling at Elaine.

"Exactly," Lois agreed.

"I guess I might…" Albert hesitated slightly.

"That's the spirit!" Lois smacked Albert on the arm. He jolted forward slightly, and Clark rolled his eyes at Lois' miscalculation of strength, she was too used to hitting him.

"Okay, people," Elaine stepped in, "as much as I enjoy this bonding experience, it's late and you guys heading back any later will wake people up. So let's get on with it." She ushered the three of them out of the Main Office.

After saying goodnight to both Elaine and Albert, Lois and Clark were alone. Room 4 was the farthest from the Main Office, and everyone had their lights out, leaving the pair in darkness. Lois didn't like the feeling of the darkness creeping in around her. She didn't like that she couldn't see a foot in front of her face. She didn't want Clark to see how much the darkness was affecting her.

He, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with the darkness. He could see fine, and it wasn't his alien powers, it was from years of waking before dawn and having to do chores. He could, however, hear Lois' breathing becoming slightly erratic and her heart rate increasing. She was afraid of the dark. The thought amused him: Lois Lane fearlessly takes on criminals twice her size and ability, afraid of a little darkness.

He felt for her hand in the darkness; when he found it, he clasped it tightly. Clark heard her breathing hitch momentarily, but then she calmed, relaxing her grip into his. They walked like that until they came into the light produced from the lamp above their letter box.

Lois dropped Clark's hand, and opened the door with her key. She stepped inside and released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was strange, she'd never felt that way around Clark before. They'd always been comfortable. She flicked on the table lamp as Clark stepped inside.

"I'm gonna take a shower," she said, grabbing a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, she closed the bathroom door behind her.

(--)

Martha stood silent in Clark's loft. She looked at the room around her. Everything spoke of her son. She trusted that Clark would take care of Lois and himself, and she wasn't worried that he'd take advantage of her weakened state; in fact she feared that the opposite would happen. She feared that Lois would need someone to lean on, and in turn, it would give Clark the wrong idea about their relationship. He'd been hurt so many times.

"Mrs. Kent," it was Chloe. Martha turned to face her.

"I was just thinking," Martha said, walking toward the blonde standing at the foot of the loft stairs.

"About Clark and Lois," Chloe nodded.

"Yeah," Martha replied, walking down the stairs, her arms still crossed over her chest.

"He loves her, doesn't he?" Chloe asked after a moment. Martha hesitated and then met the young woman's eyes.

"Unconditionally," she answered softly, "And she?"

"The same," Chloe said, "she just really know it yet."

"I thought as much." Martha turned back to the loft, looking out at the place her son had made a home.

"I hope they're okay," Chloe said softly.

"I'm sure they're fine," Martha replied, "Clark wouldn't let anything happen to Lois."

"I know," Chloe agreed, "Still…"

"I hope so too, Chloe," Martha turned back to her, "I hope so too."

(--)

TBC in Chapter 5…

Thanks for reviews; I get so excited when I see them in my inbox! Please keep them up and I'll keep posting, also, there are trailers up on YouTube, the neswest one is at www. youtube. com/ watch?vn-Pil-0qTa4 (take out the spaces). You can watch the others if you then click on the tab labeled "More from This User". Enjoy!


	6. Symphonic Confessions

Disclaimer: I only own the plot bunnies…

Previously: "There's more," she began, "Clark's missing too."

(--)

Clark was already in bed when Lois got out of the shower. She squeezed her damp hair in her towel before tossing it on the floor. She pulled back the thick blankets and climbed under the sheets.

She sighed as she finally let her head rest back on her pillow. It'd been a long day. It had felt like ages ago that she had been last lying in her bed, debating whether or not she was going to marry Oliver Queen. She felt bad about leaving without telling anyone. She knew she could confide in Chloe about nearly everything but this: this wasn't the typical problem, and Lois was honestly afraid that Chloe would try to convince her to marry Ollie, whereas Clark, Lois knew, would only listen.

"Clark, Clark!" she whispered forcefully, "Are you still awake?"

Lois heard Clark roll over, and answer her gruffly, "I am now."

"Sorry," Lois replied sheepishly.

"It's okay; what's up?" Clark asked.

"He lied to me," Lois began. Clark knew whom she was talking about, "Well, it wasn't so much a lie, more like a secret that he didn't feel like sharing until the night before our wedding. He's Green Arrow, did you know that?"

Clark hesitated.

"Uh…"

Lois didn't hear him, she continued on her rant, "And he had the nerve to wait to tell me until last night. You know what he said? He said he wasn't even going to tell me at all!"

"Maybe he was trying to protect you?" Clark offered half-heartedly. He knew it was a pathetic excuse, it was the excuse he'd been using on Lana for years, but it wasn't really a reason for hiding the truth from someone. They deserved the right to know.

"I can take care of myself Smallville I don't need some jerk with a hero-complex deciding whether or not I'm capable of that!" _Typical Lois response_, Clark thought, smiling in the darkness.

"I know," he replied softly.

"Complete honesty," she said after a moment, "that's what I want in my next relationship."

"Are you sure, I mean you may find out some things you don't want to know," Clark warned.

"I don't care, he doesn't get to pick and choose, if there's something about him that would potentially end our relationship then I deserve to know it; then I can choose how it affects me," Lois declared.

"What if he wasn't sure how you'd take it, so he hesitates about telling you?" Clark asked.

"You never know until you try: remember, Smallville?" Lois said. Clark could feel her happy attitude. He was thankful that she felt comfortable enough to confide in him. And yet, he felt guilty that she trusted him enough to tell him these things and he hadn't been anywhere near honest with her. He hadn't told her secret anymore than he'd told Lana, and he definitely hadn't mentioned that he'd known Oliver was Green Arrow long before she did.

"Lois, maybe you should talk to him, you know?" Clark suggested.

"I don't want to talk to him, Smallville," she replied solemnly.

"Why not?"

"He doesn't deserve it."

She grew quiet. He didn't say anything more either. Instead, he was considering how much he could tell Lois without being called crazy. Her words rattled his brain, _you never until you try_. He set his jaw and turned his head to her in the darkness.

"Lois I'm from another planet."

A snore came in response. It surprised him that he hadn't heard her heart rate slow and her breathing become steady; he'd been too wrapped in his thoughts to notice she'd fallen asleep in their silence. The irony made him grin. At least he knew he could get the words out. He rolled away from her, pulling the covers up to his chin. Closing his eyes, he thought briefly of his mother, she was probably worried sick. He resigned to call her the next day to let her know that they were all right. With that settling thought, Clark drifted into a peaceful sleep.

(--)

She felt a hand on her face; it brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes which flickered open a second later. Clark was sitting over her on the edge of the bed. He wore a bright smile on his face. She responded with a smile of her own.

She placed her palm against his cheek and cradled it there. His eyes shut of their own volition and he sighed deeply. Her fingertips curled, pulling him closer to her. His eyes opened in surprise but she didn't stop the motion until his mouth was just centimeters from her own.

She took a breath. This was it…it wasn't like she'd thought about this moment almost every minute since Valentine's Day, and often before that…her breathing hitched as his lips touched hers ever so gently. His hand went to her hair, burying it among the curls. Her arms wrapped around his neck pulling him closer, deeper.

She savored the kiss, parting her lips to allow him access to the rest of her mouth. He kissed her passionately, a passion she had never felt from anyone else. She squeezed her eyes tight as he pulled away softly. She bathed in the moment for a second longer before opening her eyes again.

Something was wrong. Trickles of blood were rolling down Clark's cheeks. They were like red tears. Lois reached a hand up, wiping the pad of her thumb across the crimson line. Her mouth hung wide, as her eyes met Clark's, those eyes which used to be the prettiest blue she'd ever seen, were dark chasms, holes in his head, spilling blood down his face. Suddenly his body shook violently; his mouth opened, a stream of blood spattered across her face. She screamed as his corpse fell against her.

Lois sat up, breathing rapidly. She felt around in the darkness for the switch to the table lamp. The room was quickly bathed in light. Lois looked at the bed next to hers. Clark was facing her, his arms wrapped around his shoulders, a pleasant look on his face. There was no blood. He was fine.

Her heart rate slowing to a normal pace, Lois examined herself. Her tank top was soaked through. Her hair was sticking to her face and her eyes were beginning to water. She sniffed trying to hold back the tears but they came anyway. The dream had felt so real. Clark…Clark had felt so real. Lois brushed her sticky bangs off her forehead and sighed. She glanced over at her companion once more. She just needed to make sure. Pushing the covers off her legs, Lois padded over the few feet between their beds. She reached her hand out to his face. Her fingertips barely brushed across his skin. She pushed a dark curl away from his eyes.

She shuddered as pieces of her dream flooded back to her. But it had only been a dream. There was no blood here. Lois breathed again. She glanced over at the dresser and back at Clark. He was definitely asleep. Quietly as she could, Lois walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom-most drawer. She pushed aside the lingerie and found what she was looking for.

She pulled a red-flannel shirt from amidst her underwear and hugged it to her chest. She checked once more that Clark was asleep and then she stripped out of her tank top and pulled the red-and-yellow plaid over her shoulders. She moved her hair from beneath the collar and button up the shirt. Satisfied, she climbed back into her bed. She gave Clark a last once over to make sure that he was in fact still alive before flicking off the table lamp and sliding under the sheets.

(--)

He felt the sun begin to rise. It always woke him up in the morning. He stretched in bed before pushing the comforter away from his warm body. Lois was sound asleep in the bed beside his. She was wrapped tightly in the blankets, but for a moment Clark thought he saw plaid. Waving it off, he padded across the floor in his boxers to the bathroom.

After a quick shower, Clark dressed in his clothes from the day before, grabbed his coat and, quietly as he could, left Room 4 without waking Lois. He stretched again once he was outside. His legs felt tight, he was in need of a run. He glanced from side to side. It was just after dawn, he doubted anyone was up. So, with one last shift of his gaze in either direction, he took off around the complex.

He headed back into downtown Metropolis where a few late-night partiers were just straggling back toward their apartments. He slowed when he reached a pay phone, remembering that he had planned to call his mother. He checked his watch, it was only 5:30, but he knew that his mother would be up on her farm-schedule, besides, she probably hadn't slept very well with Lois and he being gone.

He slipped inside the phone booth and picked up the receiver. He dialed his home phone number and waited as it rang. He didn't have to wait long; however, as on the second ring Clark heard the click of the phone and his mother's voice on the other line.

"Clark?"

"Hi, Mom," he said, smiling. It was nice to hear her voice, despite the worry he recognized in it.

"Clark where are you? Is Lois all right? Are you both all right?" His mother's questions were both out of worry and the desperate need for information. Clark knew that the more information his mother had, the better she could lie if it came down to something about his powers.

"I'm fine Mom, Lois is fine. We're in Metropolis," Clark explained.

"Clark," his mother's voice grew firm, "what were you two thinking, disappearing the way you did? Everyone is very worried."

"I know, Mom, I'm sorry."

"Clark…" his mother's voice took a warning edge but Clark silently disregarded it.

"I have to take care of her, Mom. She just needs time."

There was silence on the other end, the only noise between mother and son was the faint sound of her breathing. Clark knew that she was considering the effects of forcing Lois to return to Smallville before she was ready. He only hoped that his mother's sensitive side would overrule her overprotective one.

After a moment she spoke again, this time her voice was tired, "Come back as soon as she's ready."

Clark released the breath he did know he'd been holding, "Thank you."

"And Clark, Lois is very fragile right now, despite how she might seem."

"I know, Mom. Bye, I love you."

"Be careful. I love you too."

He placed the phone back on the hook and exited the phone booth. His gaze was dragged skyward. Clouds had moved over the city, shadowing it in grayness. The air was thick with the scent of rain and Clark realized it had been ages since it had rained in Metropolis. His clothing flapped in the wind that whipped between the tall buildings. He closed his eyes and breathed in the familiar scent.

He grinned as the first drop landed on his forehead. His first reaction was to brush the dampness away but he stilled his hand. After a minute another drop hit his face and cascaded down his cheek. Realizing it was getting late and he was bound to be questioned if he showed up soaking wet, Clark took off at a sprint.

He felt the thick air surround his lungs, filling them, crushing them. It was exhilarating. And yet even his abilities could not move faster than the rain. He felt his clothing begin to soak through even as he ran toward the motel, ran toward Lois. He stopped, frozen in place when he saw her. He no longer felt the torrential downpour of the storm. His mind was fixated on the girl in front of him.

She was standing amidst the rain, her eyes closed, arms raised at her sides, her face skyward as water splashed across it. She was wearing one of his shirts. His favorite red one. It was beginning to stick in places he shouldn't have been focusing on. And in others it was growing heavy with the weight of the water, making her look even smaller.

He watched her, knowing that she was as aware of him as he was of her, but he couldn't move, couldn't tear his eyes away. She looked at him, her eyes deep pools, his mouth set into a solemn line. He stared back at her with the same look, the same expressive eyes and emotionless face. For a moment he saw fear flash across her irises but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

The tiniest smile stretched across her lips and the moment was gone. Clark grinned at her through the rain. With any other girl, he would have been sad to lose a moment like that, but with Lois he cherished even the briefest of glances when their eyes met, if it meant that, if only for a moment, they were thinking the same thing.

He heard the rain again; a thunderous applause to the symphony he and Lois were a part of. She titled her head at him, her eyes no longer fathomless pools but the same familiar, playful eyes he'd once found knew him better than anyone else. She was smiling broader now too.

"Where'd you go?" she called. He approached her before answering.

"I went for a walk," he stated cryptically.

"In the rain?" she asked, eyebrow raised in the patented Lois fashion.

"It wasn't raining when I left," Clark replied. They stood in silence again, this time close enough that Clark could hear her heartbeat over the drumming of the storm. She looked up at him through her lashes. She waiting for him to do something, that much he was aware of, but his mother's warning of Lois' delicateness haunted his mind. So instead of something rash, he gently took her hand in his.

Her breath caught in her chest as he swung her around. She laughed out loud when she realized he was attempted to lighten the mood. For a brief moment she was immeasurably saddened by his seeming lack of interest, but she brushed it away. This was not a time for sadness, Clark Kent was swinging her around in the rain, dancing with her, one might call it. And she, Lois Lane, hard-as-nails-badass was laughing hysterically with him.

What was it about Clark that made her feel so unlike herself? Or perhaps, she thought with a twinge of excitement, this was the person she really was: this happy, carefree person who could laugh and feel like an idiot and not care; this person who could dance in the rain with a guy she might just be in love with and for a moment, not worry that she'd abandoned a guy who according to all modern-standards was 'a catch'. Maybe she really was just a girl in love with a boy. Maybe she was the cute couple who'd left the main office the night before. Maybe she could be happy too.

It wasn't until Elaine told them that they were crazy and going to catch pneumonia that Lois and Clark finally abandoned their dance and returned to Room 4. Soaked through Lois had to remove Clark's shirt, something she was impressed he hadn't called her on, but she knew if he ever felt the need to deflect something from himself he'd bring it up. She put on sweat pants, a dry tee-shirt and her zip-up Hoodie.

Finally warm and dry, Lois exited the bathroom to find Clark standing in a pair of pants and sweat-shirt that was clearly not his. The sweat-shirt had 'Gotham University' emblazoned on the front, printed just underneath a triangular shaped tear that exposed too much Kansas-tanned chest. She smiled as he stood uncomfortably open for her appraisal. She nodded after suppressing a quiet laugh. She stretched her arms above her head and padded over to the small sitting area beside the large single-paned glass window.

She sat down curling into a small ball to fit her entire body onto the plush chair. Clark joined her, sitting stretched out in the chair opposite hers. Lois stared out the window as the sky crashed to Earth in a beautiful display. Her mind wandered back to the night before, threads of her dream flashed across her mind's eye. She turned away from the window and took a breath.

Clark noticed her sudden discomfort be remained quiet; this wasn't a time to question her moods or why she'd been wearing his favorite shirt. So he sat back in the chair and simply watched her. And as he watched, his mouth opened of its own accord.

"I have to tell you something."

Lois looked at him, expectantly, "What?"

His mouth suddenly stopped doing what it pleased and left him to dangle in front of Lois' penetrating eyes with nothing one his tongue but the dry taste of silence. He tried to swallow but his throat would not wet; his mind was blank. He couldn't string two words together to form a coherent thought. What had his mouth gotten him into?

"Smallville?" Lois' voice had a worried edge to it and Clark felt guilty for making her feel uneasy, but still his mouth would not move.

"It's about me," he finally managed, "I'm from another planet."

Lois's face broke into the brightest grin, she leaned back in the chair, "I know."

"You do?" Clark's eyes flashed in confusion.

"Yeah, no human being could wear that much plaid," she commented, smirking. She thought he was joking and it hurt a little, and yet he knew how it must sound. He remembered when his father told him about his heritage, he considered having the man committed.

"Lois, I'm serious. I'm from a planet called Krypton," he explained, leaning forward onto his knees. Lois looked at him, frowning, she leaned forward too.

"My parents put my in a spaceship and sent me here to protect me," he desperately wanted to make her believe him but he was afraid he was losing more with each bit of information he added, so he became silent, letting her soak it in.

"So what?" she asked. Now it was Clark's turn to frown. He sat up straight and looked her in the eye.

"What do you mean?" he questioned hesitantly.

"So what if you're an alien, you're still the same Smallville to me," she explained, taking his hands in hers, "Clark you could be a dorky farm boy, a world class reporter or a superhero and wouldn't change how I felt about you."

His breathing fell short, as he looked at her, hope glimmering in ice-blue eyes. He knew he was waiting for her to continue. She did too but she wouldn't indulge him, not yet, not when she wasn't yet sure of her own feelings. Only when she was could she deal with his, whether they were equivalent to hers or not.

Still, she continued, "You are my best friend, Clark nothing is going to change that."

He nodded, smiling slightly at first and then broader. He could take that. He would handle the rest later. For now, he was content with being her friend, and with he knowing his secret. She dropped his hands gently and leaned back against the chair once more, this time her gaze tuned on him. He knew she was analyzing him.

"So…"

"So…" he mimicked.

"Can you do anything…special?" she asked.

He smiled and began explaining his abilities to her like a child on Christmas, excitedly unwrapping every detail before her. Her thoughts strayed for a brief moment: she wished he hadn't told her. Yet she knew that telling her his secret was damn near saying he loved her and wanted to marry her, though she would've preferred the latter.

She ignored the other things her brain was telling her and returned her focus to Clark explaining his heat vision. She smiled, he was adorable. She got the feeling he'd never really been able to go into such detail about his abilities with anyone before. The feelings which arose from that conclusion made her feel guilty about her previous thoughts, and she decided that no matter what she would have thought Clark was, she loved the way she now knew him to be.

(--)

TBC…in Chapter 6…

A/N: R&R its appreciated!


	7. Accusing the Accused

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show…

Previously: "I'm from another planet." "So what?"

(--)

"If you know where they are, you are required to inform me!" General Lane snapped. Lucy watched the scene between her father and the Mrs. Kent with a twinge of amusement. Her father had been a military man for so long he was simply used to people following his orders; he didn't understand that there was a different chain of command on the Kent Farm: Mrs. Ken was subordinate to no one.

Lucy was worried about her sister, of course, but she knew that Lois could take of herself, besides, she had her very own Brawny Man to help her out if she should need it; so instead, she let herself laugh at her father and Mrs. Kent fighting like a couple of children. She was mildly aware when the dashing Oliver Queen walked into the room: why Lo would give up this Prince Charming for Joe Farmer, Lucy couldn't figure, but she assumed Lois had a good enough reason for deserting the wedding. And yet despite this comforting thought, Lucy could see how Lois' disappearing act was grating on people's nerves.

"Sam, they're fine; Lois just needs a little time to regroup. Clark will make sure she gets home when she's ready," Martha explained, infinitely more calm than the General.

"Lois doesn't know what she needs, she's only twenty-one," the General replied, turning away from Martha and leaning on the kitchen counter.

"Lois is a smart kid, Sam; I don't think you give her enough credit. She's taken quite good care of herself these past few years," Martha countered.

"Good care? She's been living off your hospitality for three years! How is that taking care of herself?" the General inquired turning on his heel to face Mrs. Kent.

"The ability to know when you need help and to ask for it is just as much taking care of yourself as doing everything alone," Martha chastised.

"Martha, I'm aware that you and Jonathon ran your household with a loose hand but my girls were raised with an iron fist; they were raised to handle pressure situations like Navy SEALS."

"Yes, and now Lois has run off because she didn't feel comfortable enough telling anyone she wasn't ready to get married."

"Are you implying that it was my parenting skills which caused Lois to run away?" the General's eyes flared.

"Well I think it may have had something to do with it; Lois grew moving through the world, she lived her life from behind a barbed wire fence, you can't think that didn't effect her in some way."

"Lois is a fine, well-adjusted person; how do you know it wasn't just your son who whisked her away. I remember when he ran off and married that girl his senior year of high school…"

" Clark was not himself then, and he had nothing to do with Lois leaving now."

"Oh, when it's my kid, you say its parenting; how 'bout Clark's little endeavor, that wasn't bad parenting? Maybe it's bad parenting now, too, huh, because last time I checked Clark is missing too? How do we know Clark didn't force Lois to leave with him?" the General accused. Lucy glanced at Mrs. Kent whose face had turned red with fury.

" Clark did not _kidnap_ Lois!" Martha exploded out of both disbelief and rage. Lucy couldn't remember ever seeing Mrs. Kent so angry; granted she'd only met the woman a few times, but Lucy had never gotten that vibe from her.

"How do you know?" the General inquired fiercely stepping toward Martha menacingly.

Mrs. Kent matched him, "Because I know my son, and I know you're daughter, probably better than you do!"

"What? I know my daughter better than anyone! Don't you dare presume--."

"Hey!" Lucy had finally had enough of the bickering match, perhaps because it she didn't want Lois' flaws used as evidence as they eventually would be, or maybe because she knew what her father said was completely untrue, either way, she'd had enough, "This isn't about who knows Lois better, if anyone, it's Clark anyway. All that matters is that Lois and Clark get back safely, and I think we all know that if anyone can get Lois to come back to Smallville, it's Clark, so why doesn't everyone just shut up!" She finished with a flourished of her arms and a frustrate huff.

Her father looked at her like she had just pointed a nuclear missile launcher in his face and threatened to pull the trigger. Mrs. Kent looked slightly less shocked by Lucy's outburst, in fact, she almost looked proud of the young woman. This made Lucy smile, but the look on Oliver Queen's face drew her full attention. He'd been so quiet through the whole exchange that Lucy had forgotten he was there; but her words rocketed back to her. Prince Charming looked like he'd just found out the Princess was running away with the frog and though the thought amused Lucy, she realized, in essence, that was exactly what had happened.

And as her statements fizzed around her brain, she realized how much it must have stung to hear how close Lois and Clark actually were. Lucy knew, better than most people, it was far worse to hear things said out loud and much simpler to ignore them in silence. Ollie seemed deep in thought, his eyes focused on a spot on the ground, unaware that now, not only was Lucy staring at him, but Martha and the General were also watching him intently for some response to Lucy's comments.

"She'll come back," Oliver said simply. Lucy thought it sounded more like a comfort to his self than a statement to the others in the room. He said nothing more but silently excused himself from the room and walked out onto the back porch.

"He's right," the General agreed quietly. Martha nodded but Lucy was staring after Oliver. Sure, Lois would eventually come back, but who knew what kind of repercussions would follow her.

(--)

A knock on the door forced Clark to pause in descriptions of the Fortress. Lois glanced out the window; rained was still cascading past the window, now it was coming down in sheets. She looked at Clark and shrugged as he stood up to open the door. Standing with a rain slicker wrapped tightly around them was Tommy, one of Elaine's employees; his formerly blonde hair was now dark and plastered to his forehead and he wore a lopsided smile on his face.

"Tommy, what're you doing here? Come on in," Clark stepped aside to allow the young man to enter but he remained on the stoop. Lois joined Clark at the door, frowning at the man who looked to be about her age.

"No thanks, Elaine just wanted me to tell you guys that they're playing charades in the main hall if you're interested," Tommy explained.

"Oh, thanks," Clark replied awkwardly.

"Elaine sent you over here in the pouring rain to tell us that they're playing charades?" Lois asked.

"Well, she didn't actually say 'go over there' but…"

"Ever heard of a phone Jacques?" she asked with a twinge of sarcasm in her voice. Whether Tommy didn't understand her or he simply chose to ignore her, neither Lois or Clark knew, but he gave them a smile and short nod of his head before turning on his heel and charging back into the rainstorm.

"So…" Clark said, closing the door and looking to Lois.

"That guy is so weird," she said, then shook her head and looked at Clark, "So."

"So should we go?"

"Where?" Lois asked, leaning toward him slightly.

"To play charades?" Clark suggested gently.

"Oh, I don't know, do you want to?" Lois inquired.

"Why not?"

"Then let's go," she put her hand on the door knob and re-opened the door.

"You're not going to change?" Clark asked frowning slightly.

"Why, it's not like the people here care much about fashion. I doubt they even know who Vitton, Lauren, or Versace are."

"True," Clark conceded.

"So let's go."

"Wait!" Clark hurried away from the doorway. Lois watched him with an eyebrow raised as he grabbed a blanket off his bed and held it over his head. Lois smiled as he moved his arm so she could hold it over her own head. Together with the large blanket protecting them from the beating rain, they ran out into the storm in the direction of the main building.

(--)

"I told you I'd whip your butt," Lois teased as she and Clark walked back to Room 4 after the game of charades. The rain had since ceased but the roads were still covered with water giving humidity to the air as it rose from the pavement. They weren't the only ones taking the scenic route to their room either. Maggie and Albert were strolling by the man-made pond at the other end of the complex.

"Just because you managed to visually depict 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' and my team couldn't figure out 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' does not mean you whipped _my_ butt," Clark replied, trying to sound defensive despite the smile on his face. But Lois was unconvinced and her lips curled further when she saw the smile on his face.

"Yes it does," she answered, laughing and looking in front of them as she strung her arm around Clark's, his hands tucked in his sweatshirt pockets. The action made Clark smile brighter. Even like this, walking together, arms linked, no strings between them, even like this they were more a couple than he and Lana had ever been.

The pair stopped at the door and Lois reached for the handle but Clark stopped her. She looked at him, frowning. She read something deep in his eyes. He wanted her, no question about it. And if she did have a question, the way he was leaning down toward her certainly would have answered it.

Her breath caught in her chest. Her bottom lip trembled slightly. She swallowed painfully as she waited for him to finally kiss her. But a sudden flash of a face in her mind's eye made her freeze. Oliver. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly but Ollie's face wouldn't go away even as she slipped past Clark and into the room.

He watched her disappear into the darkness, a dumbstruck look on his face. He felt like an idiot. He was so sure Lois felt everything he did, but it occurred to him as he was standing stock-still on the stoop that maybe he'd just interpreted Lois' as being like his because he _wanted _them to be not because they really were.

He shook his head in sadness. Maybe he was just moving too quickly. She had, after all, just broken off a four month engagement by running away from a wedding. She couldn't be expected to jump into his arms after two days. He sighed and nodded to himself: He'd apologize to Lois and then maybe they could go back to the good times.

He stepped inside the room but Lois wasn't there. He saw light filtering from underneath the bathroom door illuminating a stain on the brown carpet. He padded across the room to the door and knocked softly.

"Lois," he said gently. She opened the door. From her face, Clark couldn't tell if anything was wrong.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," he said slowly, "I didn't mean--."

"It's no big, Smallville, happens all the time," Lois replied, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders in true Lois-fashion.

"So we're okay?" Clark asked slowly.

"Okay." Lois answered.

"Okay," Clark repeated. Lois smiled and closed the door again. Clark heard the sound of the shower turning on and shook his head. Lois seemed all right but he wasn't really sure. She was in one of those moods, the only one that he couldn't read into.

Lois leaned against the bathroom door. She closed her eyes again and sighed sadly. She couldn't understand why Clark had to be so perfect. What the hell did he see in her? Didn't he know that she was neurotic, arrogant and generally rude to people? This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to hurt Clark while she saved herself. And that was exactly what was going to happen. But Clark had been hurt too many times before, and Lois would not add her name to the list of heartbreaks.

It was time to go back to the real world.

(--)

Clark pushed the covers off his chest as he rolled onto his side and felt sunlight sting his eyes behind his lids. The shock forced his hand to his brow as a shade. Despite his wishes, Clark's eyes opened to the world around him. As they did so, even his sleep-clouded brain registered something was different about the room.

Lois was not the cleanest of roommates but her clothes, which tended to decorate the room, were no longer hanging off the chairs or the door handles. He glanced over at her bed but it was made, something else that never happened. The bathroom door was open and empty. Clark looked at the foot of his own bed; his clothes, the ones he'd worn when they first arrived, were folded in a neat pile. The ones that he had borrowed were no longer draped over the chair where he had left them.

Clark got to his feet, pulled his pants over his boxers and looked out the large window. Lois was on her way back to the room, fully dressed, her attention focused on something in her hand. Clark pulled his shirt over his head just Lois entered the room. She looked up from what Clark saw to be money and gave him a too cheerful smile.

"Morning Sleepy Head," she said.

"Lois, what's going on?" Clark asked cautiously.

"Time to head back to the Farm, Smallville," she replied, her chipper voice like nails on a chalk board.

"Are you sure?" The question held so much weight. It wasn't simply a question of returning to the actual farm, it was about returning to Oliver, to the life before they arrived in Room 4, and they both knew that.

"Definitely."

(--)

Chloe Sullivan was not avoiding her friends and family. She just didn't want to hear the General blaming Mrs. Kent for Lois and Clark's absence, or see Oliver moping around in constant brood-mode, or listen to Lucy, Bart and Victor trying to lighten the stifling mood.

So, Chloe had holed up in the loft, working on her next article for the Planet. Working kept her mind off the crisis at hand. She couldn't blame her cousin for the events of the last couple of days. She'd known that Lois was unhappy with Oliver; Chloe just wished that she could have confided in her. She wished Lois had let her in like she had with Clark.

Not to mention she wished that Clark hadn't been so reckless to go along with Lois on her crazy endeavor. Just because he'd suddenly realized Lois was there after all these years didn't mean he had to take off with her the first chance he got. Chloe was actually surprised at how selfish Clark seemed. Oliver was his friend after all. If Clark wanted to help Lois avoid her wedding, the least he could have done was keep her in Smallville to she could talk to Ollie instead of disappearing with her all to himself.

With each thought, she grew angrier at Clark, at herself, and honestly, at Lois. They were so thoughtless, the pair of them. She read over her last line and furiously backspaced it, her anger boiling with each press of the button. How could they be so stupid? Didn't they understand how much they were making people worry? How much of a strain they were putting on everyone?

The sound of an engine roused her from her silent fury. She looked out the large open window of the barn and recognized the silver SUV driving up the long, dirt driveway to the Kent Farm. Chloe got up so quickly she tipped the chair over as she ran down the wooden steps, her boot heels clicking loudly. She pounded across the dirt and launched herself at Lois. The older woman reeled back unsteadily as Chloe clung to her.

"Thank god you're back!" Chloe breathed into her cousin's hair.

"It's only been two days, Clo," Lois replied a little forcefully, but she still squeezed her shoulders tightly. When Chloe finally let go, she saw Clark at the back of the truck and moved to embrace him as well, but he was lugging Lois' suitcase out of the trunk. When he had set it on ground, Chloe threw her arms around her best friend. She let go smiling, but it dwindled when she saw Clark eyes. She had never seen them so sad before.

Something had happened, Chloe was positive, she just wasn't exactly sure what it was. She watched as Lois walked up the porch steps, hesitated at the door before opening it and stepping inside. She was met with five shocked faces. Lucy and the boys looked happy to see her. Her father was fuming and Mrs. Kent looked angry.

"Hi," Lois said softly. She focused on Mrs. Kent, the only person whose opinion really mattered to her. Martha seemed to hesitate before embracing Lois tightly. Her father followed suit, although less enthusiastically. Lois noticed how he looked to Mrs. Kent who nodded approvingly. Lois wondered what exactly had happened while she was gone.

Lois glanced behind her as the door opened again. Clark and Chloe entered the kitchen. Lois' eyes met Clark's for the briefest of moments before she looked away, her eyes focused on someone else who had entered the room. Oliver Queen was standing at the top of the stairs looking as debonair as he ever had. He walked down the stairs at a pace slightly faster than a stroll. He embraced Lois where she stood. Once more her eyes shifted to Clark's but he was the one to look away.

He turned on his heel and walked out of the house, muttering something about chores needing to be done. Chloe watched after him sadly as Lois buried her face into Oliver shoulder. The blonde thought she saw tears glistening on Lois' cheeks.

"Ollie, can I talk to you?" Lois whispered.

"Of course," he replied taking her hand and leading her into the front hallway.

"Ollie, I--."

"Lois, let me, please," Oliver began, Lois quieted as he dropped her hand, "Lois, I'm sorry for telling you the night before our wedding. I wish it could have been different. I was an idiot for lying to you for so long but I didn't know how to tell you. I love you, but I know you don't love me."

"I do, Ollie."

"No, Lois," Oliver looked at her, "you don't. You haven't for a long time now. And I thought I could live with that, but then I realized that you couldn't. It wasn't fair to you, I understand that now."

"Wow, you've been thinking a lot these last couple of days," Lois joked.

"Well, it was either that or listen to your father," Oliver replied lightly. Lois let a smile break across her face.

"I really am sorry, Ollie," she said after a moment.

"I know, Lois."

She sighed. Oliver really was a great guy, she knew that, and she wished so desperately that she loved him as much as he loved her. And yet, sitting here with Ollie, she knew that she couldn't have married him. She smiled sadly, her mind flashed back to Clark. She remembered dancing with him in the rain, a memory she would never divulge to anyone, and she smiled wider.

"I think he's still outside," Oliver said off her smile. She looked up at him, confused.

"Hmm?"

" Clark, he's still outside I believe," Oliver explained.

"Ollie, I--."

"Oh, I've known that for a while now too." Oliver interrupted; a sad smile on his face; he nodded to the back door, "Go."

Lois stared at him. He met her eyes with certainty. She smiled at him, stood and left him standing in the lobby. She walked through the house with purpose in her step. She was vaguely aware that Lucy tried to stop her with some question about wedding cake, but Lois ignored it, pushing the back door open. Lucy watched after her sister, an awe-struck look on her face which slowly broke out into a smile when she saw the direction Lois was marching in. Chloe moved to her side, trying to discern what Lucy was looking at. Her eyes caught Lois walking toward the barn and she smiled brightly.

Lois took a deep breath as she approached the barn doors. Clark was visible inside, lifting hay bales. She took a moment to watch him even as she pressed forward, stepping inside. She slid the heavy barn door closed behind. Clark looked up at her but they both knew he had heard her long before that.

"Hey, Smallville," she said, walking toward him, her hands in her back pockets.

Clark looked uncomfortable; Lois could understand why, "Hey, Lois."

"Look, I, uh, I wanted to talk to you," Lois began.

"Yeah, well, I'm kinda busy right now," Clark replied sharply.

"Okay, you're angry, I get that," Lois said lightly.

"You think," Clark snapped harsher than he wanted to be.

"Look, Smallville, I know I screwed up…I really screwed up, but I didn't want to hurt you."

"Nice try."

"Hey, Smallville, I'm trying to apologize here, the least you could do is shut up for five minutes and let me get through it!" Lois snapped.

"Okay, shoot," Clark answered sarcastically.

"I'm sorry…well?"

"That was it?" Clark asked in disbelief.

"Well, what more did you want from me?" Lois asked getting a little angry. She had apologized like a good person, she was pouring her heart and soul into it and now it was his turn.

"Lois, that wasn't even a good apology!" Clark couldn't believe Lois was trying to make up for that morning with a simple 'I'm sorry'.

"Well, you know what, Smallville? I'm not great with words, so give me a break, I'm trying to tell you that I'm sorry and that I think I'm in love with you, but you know--."

Clark stepped toward her, his hand moving to her cheek bone and silenced her angry rant with a mind-bending kiss. Lois' eyebrows hit the ceiling in surprise as she felt her knees give way. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and coat, pulling him closer to her, deepening the kiss that was already turning her nerves into fireworks.

She felt the kiss in her toes. It traveled up and down her spine and she couldn't control a shiver that ran up her back. Clark must have felt it because he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and back, folding her into his long arms. Her arms slipped around his neck, using his broad shoulders to keep her from collapsing on her jelly legs.

Though, as he had explained to her back in Room 4, Clark didn't need oxygen as often as her, he knew Lois needed to breathe occasionally. Eventually, he pulled away from her, resting his forehead against hers. Lois swallowed.

"Wow," she said softly.

"Yeah," Clark agreed.

"That was a hell of a kiss," Lois commented, smiling.

"Get used to it," Clark replied with a raise of his eyebrow much like Lois' patented move.

"Oo, that sounds fun," Lois' smile broadened and a mischievous glint appeared in her eye. Clark kissed her again, this time softer but without a loss of passion. Lois squeezed her arms around Clark's neck again as she felt him lift her off the ground and spin her around in a small circle as he kissed her. She felt like she was flying.

"I love you," he whispered against her mouth.

"I love me too," Lois replied, smiling.

Clark kissed her again, smiling, as he spun her gently. As she grew just a little bit dizzy, Lois knew that this was definitely the beginning of something, maybe the best something. She let her eyes flutter closed again.

(--)

TBC in Chapter 7…

R&R please!


	8. The Storm of the Century

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show…

Previously: "That was a hell of a kiss." "Get used to it."

(--)

"I can't believe you've never seen the 'Godfather'!" Lois proved once again just how handy she was as she pulled the back door open, held onto the movies in her hand, all while being turned toward Clark as she attacked him about his lack of film exposure.

"I haven't seen a lot of movie Lois, I'm not exactly a movie kind of guy!" Clark defended, gracefully grabbing the DVD box as it slipped from Lois' grip. Lois rolled her eyes, as she dropped the other two DVDs on the kitchen counter. Martha Kent was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper, a half-eaten Danish on a napkin in front of her.

"Morning, Mrs. K.!" Lois said happily. Martha smiled at Lois' enthusiasm.

"Morning, Lois," Martha replied, setting the paper down beside her Danish, "would you two like some breakfast?"

"Oh, no thanks, Mrs. K. If Clark and I don't start watching these now, then we won't get to finish before tomorrow and today is my only day off this week," Lois explained.

"Ah, I see," Martha said, "Well, there are fresh doughnuts warming in the oven if you want any. I have to head out." Martha pushed out of her chair, took her crumpled napkin to the trash can and put her empty coffee cup in the sink to be washed later.

"Where are you going, Mom?" Clark asked, stepping slightly forward.

"I have a meeting in Gotham City today," Martha replied; she turned to them and held out her arms, "how do I look? Good enough to meet a billionaire?"

"Good enough to meet ten," Lois answered, smiling proudly.

"Thank you, well, I'm off. Have fun you two," Martha picked her briefcase off the floor and walked out the back door, leaving Lois and Clark to watch after her.

"She's totally into this job," Lois stated after a moment.

"Yeah, she loves being able to make a difference," Clark agreed, "I don't know how much she likes having to deal with the multi-billionaires and all but she doesn't complain."

Lois turned to him, "And I would never expect her to. Come on, Smallville, we've got movies to watch!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the house to the living room. She took the DVD and pushed Clark down onto the couch. He laughed as she teetered dangerously on her heels as she crouched down to put the DVD in the player. She shot him a glare as she returned to the couch and sat down beside him.

Clark grabbed the remote and pressed 'Play', as he swung his arm around Lois' shoulders. She gave him a sideways look and smiled slightly. Not necessarily because of Clark's actions, but more because things hadn't really changed, she realized. It was still just her and Clark, watching movies on their day off: Lois enjoyed the thought as the titles rolled. But her attention was focused on the screen as the first scenes of the wedding began dancing across her line of vision.

(--)

"These abnormally high temperatures started late last night and have been on the up-rise ever since. It is expected to reach around 120 degrees by noon today. If this heat continues, it may cause problems for many of our Kansas farms." Chloe clicked off the television as it switched back to the news anchors. Sweat was beading on her forehead even as she stood in the Daily Planet's newsroom.

"I don't get it," Jimmy said walking up behind her, "Two days ago it was cold enough to snow…in August! And now it's so hot I can't even develop the pictures properly."

Chloe gave him a small smile but he was right. Temperature fluxes were not uncommon this time of the year, but the last few days had been completely unexplainable. Two nights ago the temperature had suddenly dropped from a comfortable 68 degrees around eight o'clock to something closer to 35 degrees at midnight. Then when Chloe had woken up that morning, wrapped in four different blankets and a sweatshirt and scarf, the temperature had risen to 75 degrees by eight thirty. The problem was the temperature hadn't stopped increasing since then.

But the heat wasn't just affecting people's body temperatures: it was making simple tasks unbearable, and people were getting angry at little things. Chloe herself had yelled at Jimmy for bringing her the wrong coffee that morning. She had apologized without shame for another hour but he waved it off, telling her he understood: it was the heat.

Now Chloe was standing at the window, looking at the cloudless sky, hoping beyond hope that rain would cool down the quickly rising temperatures. Growing up in Smallville had created a sort of bias in Chloe: she thought nearly every unexplained event was meteor-related. It was the same with these weird temperature changes. She had pitched a story to her superior, but he wouldn't hear it. He said that it was just nature and she should find something better to write about: like why was Senator Kent meeting with Gotham City's billionaire Bryce Wayne?

Chloe nearly laughed out loud. She didn't like to be mean but her supervisor was an idiot. Chloe was unsure how the man could have been promoted. She often had trouble called him her boss but she did so without complaint: she was never going to make it if she talked back to her superiors this low on the chain. Still, she had typed up the article and had Jimmy read over it anyway. There was no harm in printing it, was there?

Chloe ran hand through her blonde hair. She wondered if Lois and Clark were enjoying their big movie marathon. Lois had been talking about it for a week. Chloe briefly wished she weren't at the Planet office in this sweltering heat but with Lois and Clark, on the farm, watching twelve hours of mafia movies. But she knew she would be intruding on their first real date.

Chloe smiled to herself. The two had been trying to plan something for nearly a month but every time one of them was free, the other was busy, most often it was Lois who was working; but she was determined to get out of the Inquisitor, and neither Chloe nor Clark could begrudge her for that. Still, Chloe knew it was taking a toll on both of them: they were in love and they hadn't really spent more than a couple of hours together since their first night together. Chloe shuddered slightly: there were some things she really didn't want to think about: Lois and Clark sleeping together was on the top of that list.

Not that Chloe wasn't really happy that they were together, she just felt a little awkward about the physical part of their relationship still. It had been the same way when Clark and Lana had been together, or when Lois and Oliver had dated. She forced herself to stop thinking about it. She looked up as Jimmy returned for the third time, handing Chloe a sandwich and a sugar-free Snapple.

"Thanks," she said as they both sat down around her slightly cluttered desk.

"I wish we could have eaten outside," Jimmy said, biting into his classic ham and cheese, "but it's just too damn hot."

"I know, I'm getting a little antsy about this whole weather thing," Chloe said, pulling the extra lettuce off her turkey on rye. Why did the sandwich shop insist on putting on so much lettuce? If she wanted that much grass she'd be a cow.

"Yeah, you sounded like it in your article," Jimmy replied.

Chloe froze, "I didn't sound like I was paranoid or anything right? I sounded objective and analytical."

Jimmy swallowed quickly, "Oh, yeah, no, that's what I meant. It's just, well, I know you Clo, and I know when you're getting jumpy about something," Jimmy hurried to explain.

"Oh, okay," Chloe calmed. Even if her article wasn't going to be published, she still wanted it to sound good. She hated when her writing wasn't up to her standards.

"I'm sure Perry will totally dig it," Jimmy said. Chloe almost choked.

Her eyes were large as she regarded Jimmy who sat across from her, staring, his sandwich to his mouth, "You gave the story to Perry?!"

"Yeah," Jimmy replied, "It was good, it deserved to be printed. Just because Miles can't see that doesn't mean you--."

"Perry White, Perry White, the Editor?!" Chloe's face had gone ghostly pale.

"Yeah, look, Clo, you can't be writing pet obituaries for the next decade; you just need something that will prove to Perry what a great writer you are," Jimmy explained. Chloe calmed down a little. Jimmy was right, but that article wasn't meant to be published, she hadn't cited things properly; there were references to the Smallville meteor showers that she hadn't properly explained. It was barely a rough-draft, not worthy of the Editor.

Chloe swallowed nervously. She suddenly found she wasn't hungry, but that wasn't what had suddenly caught her attention: it was the large black thunder-heads that had suddenly overtaken Metropolis in a slate-gray. Chloe's jaw dropped as she stood and stared at the window. A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the building for a brief second before the entire building went frighteningly black.

Chloe felt someone take her hand and heard Jimmy's voice yelling to one of the other employees. She squeezed his palm tighter as her gaze returned to the window. The world outside was only slightly lighter than inside the powerless Daily Planet Building, but it was enough to see that hail, the size of tennis balls was beginning to fall from the clouds above.

(--)

Martha Kent gave the city behind her a worried look. She silently prayed that Chloe and Jimmy would be okay at work and Lois and Clark safe on the farm. She crossed the tarmac with the Head of Security walking alongside her. Martha wondered how he could even see behind his sunglasses in the grayness that surrounded them. Although the thick, black clouds that seemed to blanket the city were not yet over Met-International, the darkness of the storm had engulfed the airport as well.

Agent Daniels, the Head of Security, placed a hand on Martha's back and guided her toward the Wayne Enterprises Jet sitting on its private runway. As the Senator approached, the stairs pulled down from a hatch on the side of the plane. Standing at the top was a young man with dark brown hair and handsome grin.

"Senator Kent," he extended his hand as Martha walked up the steps and shook it.

"You must be Bruce Wayne, it's a pleasure to meet you," Martha said, releasing Bruce's hand and stepping past him. The compartment was spacious. There was seating on both sides, and a comfortable aisle between them. Standing near the front of the plane was an older gentleman in a dark suit.

"Mrs. Kent, this is Mr. Fox, the President of Wayne Enterprises, and my right-hand man," Bruce introduced the man, who, like Bruce, extended his hand to Martha. She smiled and shook it as well. Mr. Fox guided her to a seat and seated himself across from her.

"Mrs. Kent, I first wish to extend my condolences for your husband," Bruce said, his face solemn.

"Thank you Mr. Wayne," Martha replied; she liked Bruce Wayne, she had decided that weeks ago on the phone, when, out of the blue, he had called the farm and asked her about meeting him. But she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she had in his presence now; it was a familiar feeling, the same she got every time a reporter wanted to visit her home, and interview her family: Bruce Wayne was hiding something.

"Jonathon Kent was a great man, an example for everyone," Mr. Fox agreed. Martha focused her attention again. She smiled.

"Yes, he was," Martha said, "And my sympathies to you, I read about your parents in the Globe."

It was then that Martha saw it: a crack in his charming exterior. At the mention of his parents' death, Bruce Wayne had flinched. The uneasy feeling melted away, he was hiding something, yes, but so was she. She leaned back in the comfortable chair and breathed out a little.

"Thank you," Bruce said his hardened shell firmly in place once more.

Martha leaned forward onto the tops of her knees, "Mr. Wayne, I would like to be frank with you."

"I would ask nothing less," Bruce replied.

Martha nodded, "And all I ask is that you provide me with same courtesy. I don't need false compliments or charm. If I wanted that I would ask my assistant. From you, Mr. Wayne, I want trust between us."

Bruce Wayne was grinning at her, but it was not the same grin she had seen before. He was impressed by her boldness and her no-nonsense attitude. He crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled slightly.

"I knew you would be a handful, Mrs. Kent, but I was completely unprepared," Bruce joked. Martha leaned back into her chair and smiled, convinced that she'd made her point. Lucious Fox was shaking his head from side to side and laughing quietly. Martha was unsure that anyone had talked to Bruce Wayne like that before. _This must be Lois rubbing off on me_, Martha thought.

"Do we understand each other, Mr. Wayne?" Martha asked, extending her hand once more. Bruce leaned forward and took it in his large palm. Martha couldn't help but notice that his knuckles looked a little purple, as if he'd been hitting something. _Oh, billionaires and their hobbies: One day its chess the next its spelunking. _

"I think we do," Bruce said, shaking Martha's hand, "Mr. Fox, will you inform the pilot we're ready to depart?"

"Certainly, Mr. Wayne," Fox answered getting to his feet.

"Now, about this proposal," Martha began.

(--)

"I wanna get married," Lois stated abruptly. Clark looked down at her. She was leaning her head against his shoulder, her face focused on the television set in front of her: a huge crowd of people was walking down a street behind the newly wedded Michael Corleone and his Italian bride.

"Right now?" Clark inquired. Lois looked up at him and rolled her eyes. She pushed away from him and sat up.

"No, stupid, I think in like five years," Lois answered, frowning with thought.

"Why five years?" Clark asked.

"Because that will give me enough time to get my career in order, and a real apartment, and find a good husband," Lois said with a 'duh' look on her face.

"Oh, silly me, well, I'll just have to ask you in five years then," Clark laughed. Lois pushed him in the shoulder with a bright laugh. He caught her cheek in his hand and kissed her gently.

"Okay, Smallville," she said when he pulled away, "You got five years to prove that you'd be a good husband."

"It's a bet," Clark replied.

"It's a promise," Lois agreed softly. Clark kissed her again, but she pulled away abruptly. He frowned but she was looking past him. She got to her feet and walked to the window. In only a few hours, the sky had turned from a brilliant azure to inky blackness. Thick clouds had rolled over Smallville.

"That does not look good," Lois stated. She glanced back at Clark who was still sitting on the couch, 'The Godfather's' menacing music a soundtrack to the vibrant lightning bolts striking the fields of the Kent Farm. The storm was still a little ways off giving Lois and Clark an incredible view of its fingers as they touched the ground.

But the storm was moving toward them at an intimidating rate. Clark walked over to the window, putting an arm around Lois. He felt her tremble slightly and squeezed his arm tighter. She glanced sideways at him before her eyes returned to the horizon.

In a sudden wave, water started pelting the house, echoing off the roof. The rain came down in sheets and Lois' mind flashed back to another rainstorm. This was far more menacing. Another bolt struck the ground, closer to them this time. Had Lois felt braver she would have moved out onto the porch to watch the storm; but there was something about this particular display that gave her the creeps and forced her to be rooted to the spot. The next crack of lightning sent Lois' world into darkness.

No longer was the light around her comforting, she was plunged into the inky blackness of the storm. No longer were the haunting melodies of 'The Godfather' playing a dark symphony as the storm raged outside, now only the sound of breathing and the heavy pounding of the rain told her she hadn't passed out on the floor.

"There's a flashlight under the sink," Clark said, leaving her side. She heard him move like a cat through the house. _He can see just fine_, she reminded herself when the question of his grace in the darkness crossed her mind.

Clark returned after no more than a minute, the flashlight casting a hollow glow about the dark room. They didn't speak, just stood in silence: waiting, but for what neither really knew. Perhaps waiting for the power to come back on, or maybe the storm to overtake the house completely in a very Dorothy Gale kind of way, whichever was the reason: neither moved nor spoke, only waited; Lois hugged her arms to her chest: the temperature was dropping at an alarming rate. She let out a shaky breath. The sound of it filled the room, as it froze in midair creating a white puff. Lois looked at Clark who was also breathing out puffs of white air.

The rain on the roof suddenly turned heavier as hail started cracking against the tiles. Lois watched it bounce off the ground, stones the size of marbles slowly growing into the size of tennis balls, as the rain continued to puddle on the muddied ground.

"Since when did Kansas become home to the Apocalypse," Lois joked lightly, but her tone was forced and the joke fell flat in the cold darkness.

The sound of the siren made both of them jump. Lois thought her heart would leap through her throat, and her racing heartbeat was not stemmed by the sound, only encouraged. The sirens were used when there was a tornado, or worse, a meteor shower. Lois' hand instinctively dropped to catch Clark's as he pulled her out the door and onto the porch.

"What the hell is going on?" Lois yelled over the roaring wind. The sound that seemed like a distant whistle inside was now at risk of tossing her against the side of the house. She clung to Clark's arm, forgetting all her declarations of self-dependence.

"I don't know!" Clark replied. He looked out across the farm, trying to catch a sign of life but only the grass and trees moved. It was there and gone before he even knew what it was: a flash of light: maybe a car. A rumbling peeked his ears; the sound wasn't natural, separate from the thundering storm. Then he saw it again, it wasn't a car exactly.

It was a tank. And it was pushing through mud and wind better than Clark would have imagined. He gave Lois a look as the monster rolled up the Kent's driveway. Lois knew exactly what he was thinking. Clark felt her take a deep breath and he squeezed her hand tighter. The tank was being followed by two hummers and a truck brandished with a red cross that Clark assumed was for anyone who had already been injured in the storm.

The hatch atop the tank lifted and General Sam Lane stood up before them, "Hey Lois."

Lois rolled her eyes, "Hi Daddy!"

General Lane climbed out of the tank and ran through the rain onto the porch with Lois and Clark, his army fatigues already soaking wet. He ushered the pair into the house and nearly tripped over Shelby who was cowering on the floor. He cursed the dog as Lois bent down to pet him, sneezing for her efforts.

Despite being inside the house, the sound of the wind was only slightly arrested, and the General still had to speak loudly, "You two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine but Daddy, what's going on?" Lois asked, her voice strong despite her fear.

"This is the storm of the century, Lo; no one's got any idea where it came from either, just appeared on the scopes all of the sudden. They think it's got something to do with these weird temperature fluxes. One minute it's hot as hell the next its near freezing. They've got snow in Metropolis right now," the General explained.

"The sirens, are they--?" Clark asked.

"Not meteors, tornadoes were touching down in the southern parts of town. They seemed to have dissipated but we need to get everyone out of here before things get worse. Metropolis was already hit, serious damages."

Lois gasped, "Chloe?"

"She's fine. The Daily Planet was hit with a bolt but it only retained minor damages, we're housing the displaced people there and at the LutherCorp building."

"Lex is helping?" Clark asked, surprised.

"I think it was his wife," the General replied, "Look, we need to get you two out of here. It might be snowing in Metropolis but its no where near as bad as here."

For once, Clark was glad that Lois didn't argue with her father. Instead, she walked past him, grabbed Shelby's leash off the hook by the door and hooked it onto the dog's collar. The General gave the Golden Retriever a wary look but didn't mention anything as his daughter, donning a heavy coat, and the dog walked back out onto the porch.

The General gave Clark a suspicious look but remained quiet as he lead the way for the two of them, the younger grabbing his jacket from the counter. Clark would have laughed at the scene in front of him had it been any other day. Lois was standing in the rain, her coat already soaked through, looking at Shelby who was sitting on the porch, crying at the loud storm. Lois was tugging gently on the leash and talking to Shelby trying to convince the dog to move off the porch.

"Lo, just leave the dog!" the General ordered.

"No! I'm not leaving this stupid allergy no matter what!" she yelled back, then looked sweetly at the dog, "Come on, Shelby, we're going some place safe."

"We can't wait much longer, General," said a man in a camo-poncho holding a machine gun. The General gave him a look.

Lois looked at Clark, begging him for help. He nodded silently--there really was no point in talking-- and bent to pick the dog up in his arms. Lois smiled slightly as the four--Lois, Clark, the General and Shelby--made their way over to the waiting hummers. A soldier dressed like his companion, opened the door for the General and Lois.

_Kal-El._

The sound of whisper streaked past Clark's ear. He hesitated in his step. It was the wind. He was just hearing things, the wind was playing tricks with his mind. He continued toward Lois and the waiting hummer.

_My son…_

Clark froze again. He wanted to tell himself once more that it was the wind. That he was just freaked out by the storm. But he knew deep within himself that it was a lie: Jor-El was calling him.

He would ignore it. He had to go with Lois, to make sure she was going to be alright. He lifted his foot again but a sudden thought stopped him. _What if Jor-El was causing the storm?_ Clark recalled the strange temperature changes over the past few days, the undeniable feeling of tension in the air: like everything had been holding its breath, waiting for this moment, just as he and Lois had been waiting in the house.

"Smallville!" Lois stuck her head out the door of the hummer, "Hurry up!"

Her voice broke into his thoughts. He glanced at her through the driving rain. Her hair was so wet that it looked nearly black, pieces were matted to her face, and Clark thought she had never looked more beautiful. He wanted so desperately to climb into that hummer with her, to ignore his destiny, to just forget everything, but he couldn't.

He jogged over to the door, Shelby bouncing slightly against his chest. Lois moved over as Clark let the dog into the truck. Shelby shook violent spraying everyone then jumped up onto the seat across from Lois and watched.

"Come on," Lois said to Clark, waving him in with her hand.

"I'm not coming," Clark said softly.

Lois' face shot to his, "What?"

"I have to go see my father," Clark explained.

"Clark, in case you haven't noticed, Hell is pouring down on Kansas right now--."

"I know," he interrupted, "I think he might have something to do with it."

Lois stared at him; she seemed to be contemplating something. Dark shadows crossed her face, but they fleeted away as her eyes met his once more. She nodded once.

"Go," she said softly.

"Yeah?" Clark asked, a little surprised.

"Just come back, okay?" Lois said.

"I made you a promise didn't I?" Clark asked. He kissed her, cupping her cheek with his hand. As she pulled away she leaned her forehead against his.

"I'll be back soon," he promised. He kissed her again and then stepped back. Lois watched him as the General reached over her lap and pulled the door closed. He watched Lois' face through the window, her eyes not breaking from his. The hummer turned precariously in the driveway and led the group away from the Kent Farm and Clark, standing in the rain.

Despite the words he had said, he had a sinking feeling this was the last time he'd see Lois.

(--)

A/N: This was originally just one part of the last chapter, but when I realized that the chapter was reaching over twenty pages and I hadn't gotten even half way through it, I decided to break it up a little. Don't worry, when I say last chapter I mean the last in Part One. All of the parts will be located under this title so don't freak out. R&R! I hope you like it, understand this is when the s hits the fan.


	9. Return of Fathers

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show…

Summary: "Clark, in case you haven't noticed, Hell is pouring down on Kansas right now--."

(--)

"Welcome to Wayne Enterprises, Senator," Bruce said, his arms extended outwards like he was embracing his company. Martha was impressed by the sheer size of the building. She had passed it a few times in her rare trips into Gotham, but had never ventured inside. Now she was speechless.

The lobby was decorated in a sleek modern design but with some less menacing attributes: a fountain, although made of square-cut marble stone, produced a calming lull in the room that took away from the Goliath-monstrousness that gave Martha a feeling of being out of place. She was just a farmer's widow, a small-town woman suddenly thrown into the large, cruel world of billionaire conglomerates. Not that she was a stranger, she had worked for Lionel Luther for several years, but still, she always felt like a minnow in the ocean.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Lucious Fox asked, stepping to her shoulder.

"Oh, yes," Martha agreed. It was beautiful; Martha had always appreciated the minimalist-style architecture, but she still preferred the quiet comfort of her farmhouse home. Memories seemed to bounce off the walls here, never sticking. Her house was laden with memories that seeped _from_ the walls.

"Of course, it's not home," Bruce commented on the look Martha hadn't realized was on her face.

"No, Mr. Wayne, it's not," Martha granted. She also appreciated good character, and she was beginning to think that, despite his layers of mystery and lies, Bruce Wayne had good character.

"Please, we'll go up to my office," Bruce held out an arm toward the elevator, allowing Martha to lead the way. She nodded politely and walked toward the stainless steel doors.

She waited in the elevator a moment before Bruce stepped in next to her. She frowned when Mr. Fox did not join them. She recalled the Bruce had said he was the President, Martha assumed that meant he would be joining them at the meeting, but the doors closed and Lucious remained on the other side.

"Mr. Fox is an excellent member of the board, but he has other plans this evening," Bruce answered her unasked question. Martha nodded and smiled.

"Mr. Wayne, I believe I made myself clear on the plane that I won't have my time wasted," Martha said.

"That you did," Bruce consented.

"This is merely a preliminary meeting."

"Mrs. Kent, this is hardly even a meeting," the elevator ding-ed and Bruce held the door for Martha, "this only drinks between two people hoping to better acquaint themselves with one another in hopes that they may become friends."

Martha looked at the man who was almost half her age. He knew she was afraid of her political opponents getting wind of their meeting. Though she knew nothing inappropriate was taking place that evening, the tabloids and newspapers would not necessarily print the truth. But Bruce Wayne could dismiss the problem with a wave of his hand and well-issued statement.

She was impressed as she took a seat in one of the chairs that decorated the board room. Bruce did not, as she had expected, sit down at the head of the table, instead he sat down in the chair at her right hand. She realized, with some motherly pride, that Bruce Wayne was not going to be like anything she had expected.

"Now, please don't misunderstand me, Senator, I would like to show you my proposal but I understand the political scrutiny you are under as well," Bruce began.

He stopped when an elderly gentlemen appeared from the shadows dressed in a butler's uniform. He looked rather old but Martha sensed a youthful spirit, solidified by the twinkle in his eyes. She was slightly surprised by the look he gave Bruce, one that Martha knew well, it was exactly how Jonathon had looked at Clark; the paternal pride that had made her heart swell.

"Alfred, will you please get the Senator a drink," Bruce asked. It wasn't an order, it was merely a question. Martha was impressed by the way Bruce talked to a man who was his servant. It reinforced the belief that Alfred was more of a father than a butler to Bruce.

"Senator?" Alfred turned to her.

"A soda will be fine, Alfred, thank you."

"A Coke, madam?" Alfred further inquired.

"Yes, thank you," Martha replied.

Alfred turned to Bruce, "Master Bruce?" Bruce glanced sideways at Martha before looking back to his manservant.

"I'll have a Coke as well, Alfred, thank you."

"Very good sir." Alfred excused himself with a bow and disappeared into the dark recesses beyond the light's glow. Martha looked at Bruce with a faint smile, a sentiment which he returned. Somehow, although he was nothing like him, Bruce reminded her of Clark.

Martha and Jonathon had always tried to give Clark a home and family and normal life, but despite their efforts, Clark was not normal, and neither was Bruce. Martha imagined that Bruce's parents must have known that their son was not going to be normal either. It was different, of course, Thomas Wayne didn't have to worry about his son sneezing the house down, but Bruce would live as a different outcast. A child of money was always set apart from the world, often viewed as insensitive and arrogant, they were made into careless philanderers.

It was the way Bruce was often portrayed: careless, the complete opposite of his father, a boozy billionaire who had once burned down his house while in a drunken stupor. Martha had done plenty of research after Bruce had called her. She had found every article ever written about the man, learning his tortured history filled with death, and loss. Martha felt akin to the young man: losing Jonathon was the hardest thing she had ever been through, but unlike the mysterious billionaire, Martha had the unyielding love of her son, and even of people like Lois and Chloe, who were both like daughters to her.

Poor Bruce had only his butler to suffer through the difficult times.

"You remind me of my mother," Bruce said suddenly, in a moment of true honestly. Martha had gotten the feeling, since meeting him, that although Bruce promised her honesty, he had been playing more to his tabloid image than the one Martha was seeing now.

"Your mother was an amazing woman, I'm honored to be bestowed with such a compliment," Martha replied truthfully.

"Thank you; she was, you're right, she was an amazing woman," Bruce agreed straightening in his seat.

"You seem quite close to Alfred," Martha commented.

"He raised me after my parents died. He's really the father I remember," Bruce replied.

"You don't talk about your family often do you?" Martha inquired gently.

"Would you?" Bruce stared at her. His eyes were dark and she was sure that he wasn't really seeing her. She felt that perhaps his mind was drifting back to a time before, when a different Martha would chastise him about honesty and a loving father was not also his butler. Her heart went out to the young man, he was tortured far more than Martha had thought.

"Master Bruce," Alfred's voice broke through the silence of the past. He was carrying a tray with their sodas. He handed Martha her drink and placed Bruce's on the table.

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce said absently.

(--)

She couldn't sit still. It was bad enough that she was panicking like a crazy person but she even keep herself in one spot for more than a second. She was walking back and forth in the same small 5x5 area at Fort Thomas, Shelby following every movement. Her mind was racing. She'd already called Chloe to make sure her cousin was okay but the call had done nothing to calm Lois' nerves.

Several military personnel walked past her, shuffling people in and out of the room. Many refugees had sat down in a corner or against the wall, exhausted and scared, refusing to move any further. The soldiers were getting annoyed, Lois could tell by their forced tones. She wished that she could be like those people, just sit down, no panicked pacing, no labored breathing, just relax: Clark was going to be fine.

"Lois!" The General's voice echoed through the room and Lois turned to face him, "You need to calm down, Lo, I taught you how to survive in situations like this. What's the first rule?"

Lois rolled her eyes, she really didn't need a drill sergeant right now, she needed a father. "Don't panic," she recited.

"Affirmative and you are panicking, soldier," her father snapped.

Lois had enough. She threw her hands up in the air, "Oh, god! I'm not one of your mindless soldiers!"

"Don't you take that tone with me, Lois," he waved a finger at her.

"I'll take whatever tone I want, General!" She pronounced the 'General' with such disdain is practically leaked with sarcasm.

"You _will _respect my authority, Lois," the General stated. It left little room for argument, but Lois was her father's daughter, she wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Your authority…sure, I'll respect it, when you deserve it!"

The General froze, rooted to the spot. He was used to Lois' rebellion, her insubordination, her pointed remarks but she had never questioned his say-so. His eyes blazed: not only was Lois being defiant but she was embarrassing him in front of several of the refugees who were looking to him for leadership; now his own daughter was treating him like a private.

"Lois Lane, if you continue this disobedience--!"

"If…oh, Dad, you can bet I'll continue."

General Lane felt his chest constrict in anger.

"Some father you turned out to be. Jonathon Kent was more a father to me than you ever were! They were my real family."

The pain in his chest was getting worse. It was like Lois' words were a clamp on his heart, squeezing tighter with every insult. The feelings were moving through his body now, his fingers were tingling: he wanted to hit her. He raised his arm but the pain suddenly became more intense than anything he'd ever felt. He cried out as the world swam and he collapsed on the floor.

Lois gasped as her father yelled in pain, clutched at his chest and collapsed onto the cold concrete. She forgot everything she'd been saying and threw herself at his side. He was still breathing but it was labored and uneven. She checked his pulse, placing her fingers at his throat. His heart beat twice quickly and then one at bit later. _Heart attack_, her mind flashed to Jonathon Kent; it was how he had died.

"Someone get help!" she yelled. People, some soldiers, some refugees, had surrounded them when the General had fainted, but none of them were moving.

"Call an ambulance!" Lois said again, this time looking at the people around her. They seemed to break from their trance and scurry in different directions. Military officers were radioing for a bus; a woman gave Lois her coat to put under the General's head.

Everything started happening slow motion: Lois felt herself falling away backwards as people started taking care of her father for her. EMTs arrived in a moment with a stretcher and lifted the General onto the bed. They pulled the stretcher toward the door as a Captain pushed Lois after them. He informed the EMTs that Lois was the General's daughter.

Lois felt herself sit down beside her father but she wasn't connected to the world around her. She wasn't connected to her body; there was some angry voices as Shelby leapt into the ambulance as well; he jumped onto the seat next to Lois and rested his head in her lap. Absently, Lois placed a hand on the dog's head, more for her comfort than his.

The doors closed and Lois stared into space at the wall across from her. She felt the ambulance start to move and caught the sight of snowflakes falling rapidly out the window beside her head. She distantly heard the voices of the EMTs; she wasn't sure who they were talking to.

The ambulance stopped with a jolt. The nearest EMT opened the door and jumped out, followed closely by Shelby. He held out a hand for Lois. Her muscles felt like lead as she took his hand and hopped down into the foot of snow that had piled on the driveway. She looked up at the brightly lit Metropolis General Hospital. It felt like Christmas; but as lightning lit up the black sky, Lois saw that the frightening clouds had not moved.

She realized with some unease that there were dozens of people around her, including camera crews and a reporter from the Channel 6 news. She wasn't sure if they were trying to talk to her, but it didn't matter, she couldn't hear them anyway. She couldn't hear anything besides her own breathing.

The EMTs pushed her inside as they wheeled the General out of the snow. Nurses rushed to the side of the gurney, assessing the damage; Lois still felt like she was watching the whole scene from somewhere outside her body. Someone was talking to her again, but didn't hear them. She just stood there, watching as nurses and doctors wheeled her father away from her. She wondered briefly if this was how Clark felt when his father died--like everything and nothing was happening at the same time.

"Excuse me, Miss," the voice sounded far away.

"That's the General's daughter," said one of the EMTs.

"Oh," the triage nurse covered her mouth with her hand, "Is she okay?"

"Shock, I think," replied the EMT.

"Well, okay," the nurse moved closer to Lois; she placed her arms around Lois' shoulders and moved her over to a nearby chair, "darling, I'm going to get you some coffee, okay? You just sit here with your dog and relax, okay, Sweetie?"

Lois felt herself nod. The chair underneath her was uncomfortable but it didn't matter. She felt Shelby jump up beside her and nestle his head in her lap once more. She smiled faintly when she didn't sneeze.

Lois took the cup of coffee the nurse handed her but didn't drink it or speak. She just held it. She saw the nurse hesitate and then sit down beside her without really seeing anything. The nurse took the coffee out of her hand and placed the cup on the floor. Then she held Lois' hand between hers.

"Is there someone I should call? Your mom, maybe?" the nurse asked. She was fishing for something, some response, but the young woman next to her wasn't taking the bait.

"Chloe," Lois whispered softly.

"Chloe? Is her number in your phone?" the nurse asked. Lois nodded still keeping her eyes plastered on the double doors where her father had disappeared. The world was crashing down around her. Her father was in the hospital and Clark was not there to protect her, to hold her hand and tell her everything was going to be all right. She felt herself start to cry.

She covered her face in her hands as the nurse put her arm around Lois' shoulders and squeezed them tightly. Lois sobbed harder. She heard the nurse cooing in her ear, trying to calm her down. Lois suddenly wished Martha Kent was there: Martha or Chloe, someone to take care of her for once; and she desperately wished Clark would come back.

(--)

"Master Bruce," Alfred appeared out of the shadows again.

"What is it Alfred?" Bruce asked looking at the old man. Martha glanced up from Bruce's proposal.

"Master Bruce, I believe there is something the Senator would like to see," he pressed the 'Power' button the remote in his hand and two panels on the opposite wall moved apart to reveal a television set into the oak paneling. The T.V. flickered on to a news anchor standing in the snow.

"I'm Katie Licota, reporting live from Metropolis General Hospital where hundreds of people have been brought after the horrific thunder storms today. Injuries have ranged from broken bones to severe burns and other, more fatal, injuries." The picture changed from the anchorwoman to an ambulance unloading an EMT and a very familiar Golden Retriever. _Shelby_. Martha's breath caught in her chest as Lois climbed out followed by someone who looked like General Lane lying on a stretcher.

Bruce was watching Martha intently, only half listening to the report. She really did remind him of his own mother. He felt himself grin as he thought of Martha taking care of her family like his mother had done. He glanced back at the television set. The picture of the young woman and dog were gone, and the reporter was back talking about how much snow had accumulated in the last few hours. Martha Kent's face had not changed: she seemed to be silently panicking.

He knew that his proposal meant a lot to the Senator, but she didn't care about a billionaire with a few unusual ideas, especially not when her family may have been in danger. He looked at Alfred; his old friend knew exactly what was running through his mind.

"Alfred, get the Jet ready," Bruce said, breaking the silence in the room. Martha Kent looked at him, surprised.

"But…?"

"Your family needs you," Bruce replied. He got to his feet and turned to Alfred, "Make sure they're ready to leave in ten minutes; we have somewhere we have to be."

"Very good, Master Bruce," Alfred replied disappearing once more. Bruce stood and held out his hand for Martha.

"Thank you," she said softly, taking his hand and rising from her chair.

"Anytime," Bruce responded. He placed a hand on the small of her back as they walked back toward the elevator.

Bruce's private jet was no longer comfortable and relaxing, now Martha felt like she was in a tight box with little or no air left. She was beginning to panic again. She had seen Lois on the television, but no Clark. Where the hell was he? Why wasn't he with Lois? What had happened to Sam? Was Chloe all right? Martha felt her heart rate increasing rapidly.

She reminded herself to breath: that panicking was not going to get them to Metropolis any faster. She sat back in the chair and stared out into the dark August night. It wasn't snowing in Gotham but Martha still could not see the stars: they always brought her the strangest kind of comfort. She wished that they could do so now.

(--)

Chloe rushed through the halls of the swamped Daily Planet. For the first time in a very long time, Chloe didn't recognize the face of the reporters she saw every day. The building was packed with people who had been evacuated from their homes, haggard-looking employees who, like Chloe, were trying to help, and the military who was doing their best to keep things orderly.

The building had gotten power back thanks to some dedicated Metropolis Light and Power technicians but it didn't make the scene anymore comforting. Chloe had been inconspicuously searching the faces of the displaced hoping to see Lois and Clark among the rescued but so far she'd had no such luck.

General Lane had stopped in to see that she and Jimmy were okay in the heaviest part of the storm. Chloe told him that Lois and Clark were at the farm watching movies on their day off. The General had muttered something under his breath which Chloe had assumed was about Clark before telling Chloe not to panic that he was heading out with a team to retrieve Lois and Clark from the farm.

That had been hours ago and there was no word from any of them. Chloe was busy using what little medical skills she had to patch up a woman's bleeding hand when Jimmy ran up beside her. She gave him a quick smile and told the woman that she was going to be just fine.

"Chloe, Lois is at the hospital," he said quietly but with a serious look. Chloe's heart stopped. Her breath caught in her chest.

"What?"

"Yeah, apparently your uncle had a heart attack. They brought him to Metropolis General to do a bypass. A nurse just called your cell phone," as Jimmy explained this Chloe remembered leaving her phone on her desk when the phone had gone out. She couldn't believe she hadn't had it on her, what if Lois or Clark had try to call and couldn't get a hold of her.

"How's Lois?" Chloe asked.

"She's fine physically, but the nurse says she's freaked out. She wants you to come down," Jimmy answered.

"Yeah, okay," Chloe started back to her desk to get her bag, Jimmy close on her heels.

"I'll drive," he said taking her keys that were dangling from her fingers. Chloe didn't argue but let Jimmy take her hand and pull her through the DP building. They took the elevator down to the parking garage and Jimmy led them to Chloe's car. He took a minute to put the convertible top up as Chloe climbed into the passenger side.

Gunning the engine, they sped from the garage out into the snow in the direction of Metropolis General. Chloe watched the flakes falling around the car as they drove through the crowded streets. She silently begged Jimmy to drive faster but she knew that with the weather of the day the roads were far more than just a little icy. So she kept her mouth shut and prayed that everything was going to be all right.

As they approached the hospital, Chloe couldn't help but notice how many people were standing around it in the freezing cold. Jimmy honked the horn a few times but people wouldn't move. He looked at Chloe.

"You go, I'll try to find a parking spot and I'll meet you upstairs," he said. Chloe smiled and kissed him. She jumped out of the car and pushed her way through the hordes of people to the main entrance of the hospital. People around her started gasping and pointing at the sky, drawing Chloe's attention away from the revolving doors of the hospital. She saw what seemed to be a helicopter landing on the roof of the building. It wouldn't have drawn her attention but the chopper didn't have the usual red-cross on it, nor was it military.

Chloe let the thought fall away like the flakes that were still drifting around her head. She pushed her way through the remaining people and finally laid her hand on the door.

"Hold on there Miss," a deep, gruff voice said by her ear. She looked up to see a machine gun pointed directly at her nose, "Unless you're bleeding you're not getting in there."

"My cousin is inside, my uncle had a heart attack, you might know him, General Samuel Lane," Chloe snapped. The officer straightened and gave her a short salute before opening the door for her. Chloe stepped inside the brightly lit lobby of the hospital and smiled to herself. Lois tricks really did work.

She felt bad for the soldiers who had to keep people from swamping the warmth of the hospital. It must have been a terrible job to judge who had the right to enter and who did not, but Chloe understood: it wouldn't help anyone if all those people came inside and bombarded the nurses.

She scurried up to the counter and asked where the Cardio-Wing was. The young man directed her to the fourth floor. Chloe pulled her cell phone from her pocket and hit Lois' speed-dial button. After a moment, Lois' voice cracked over the line. Chloe couldn't help but notice that her cousin did not sound good. She sounded far worse than tired or worried.

"Hey, Lois, it's me. I'm at the hospital in the Cardio-Wing, where are you?" Chloe asked, searching around corners as she spoke.

"Just after the nurse's station on the left," Lois explained. Chloe sighed when she saw Lois sitting in one of the misleadingly comfortable-looking chairs. Lois gave Chloe a relieved smile as she hung up her phone and embraced the blonde tightly.

Chloe nearly laughed when she saw Shelby sitting in the seat next to the one Lois had vacated. _Since when did they let dogs into the hospital?_ But she brushed the question aside, just glad that Lois had some company while she waited here.

"Where's Jimmy?" Lois asked.

"He's trying to find someplace to park," Chloe replied.

"Good luck," Lois commented as she and Chloe sat down in the chairs, "I heard the nurses talking about how the entire garage is filled up and the streets are packed."

"Yeah, it's crazy out there," Chloe agreed, "They almost didn't let me inside. I had to pull a 'I'm here for General Lane' thing before the officer would let me in. So how is he?"

"My dad? He's still in surgery, they haven't told me anything yet," Lois explained.

"But it was a heart attack?" Chloe confirmed. Lois nodded, "How did it happen?"

"Well, I was panicking and then we started arguing and then he just kind of fell down," Lois answered.

"Jesus, that must have been terrifying."

"Not at first actually, but then I started freaking out. It was like an out-of-body experience. Nothing felt real."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"It's okay, I had Shelby." Lois smiled and scratched behind the dog's ear.

The pair fell into silence. Neither wanting to bring up the question they knew Chloe was dying to ask. Fortunately, Jimmy came bursting through the doors at that moment. Lois and Chloe were on their feet as Jimmy pulled at the hospital scrubs under his coat.

"Question: What's with the outfit?" Lois asked.

"They wouldn't let me in. So I found a male nurse taking a smoke-break out back and paid him fifty dollars to let me wear his uniform," Jimmy explained, "he's got my clothes on right now."

"That's my guy," Chloe said, laughing slightly. Lois smiled as well.

"So where's Clark?" Jimmy asked his hands in his pockets.

(--)

Martha couldn't help but laugh a little at the whole evening as Bruce Wayne helped her out of the helicopter and onto the Hospital's roof. She was completely worried, of course, she had no idea where her son was, her surrogate daughter was at the hospital with her father, an apocalyptic storm had hit Metropolis and Smallville but Martha was shocked by the attitude of this multi-billionaire.

Not only had he ordered his jet to fly her and himself back to Metropolis but then he had requested that a helicopter take them directly to the hospital. He had even called ahead to find out where Lois was waiting and the current condition of the General. Impressed was hardly the word to describe Martha's impression of the young man.

Bruce pushed the door to the hospital open and led Martha down the stairs. She waited while he asked one of the nurses where the Cardio-Wing was. He ran back to her and pointed down the hallway.

"She said it's this way, five floors down," he told her as they moved swiftly through the packed hospital.

"Hold the elevator please!" he called to a man wearing a woolen coat and mitten. The man held the door as Bruce and Martha squeezed into the small elevator.

"Thank you," Bruce said to the man. The man nodded and then gave Martha a surprised look.

"You're Senator Kent," the man said.

"Yes," Martha answered giving the man a quick nod.

"I voted for you," the man continued.

"Thank you," Martha replied. She thanked god when the elevator's opened to the Cardio-Wing and she could get off. She liked being a Senator but she didn't want to be one now: she just wanted to be a mother. Bruce once again ran up to the nurses' station and asked where the OR was.

"Come on," Bruce said, he and Martha hurried down the hall for only a moment before Martha saw Lois, Chloe and Jimmy standing by a row of chairs.

"Mrs. Kent!" Lois exclaimed when she saw the older woman. Martha embraced the young girl tightly. Lois felt so much worry just melt away as Martha hugged her. When they pulled away, Martha briefly embraced Chloe and Jimmy as well.

"Everyone this is Bruce Wayne; Bruce, this is Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan and Jimmy Olsen," Martha introduced. Bruce and Jimmy shook hands as Chloe gave him a little wave and Lois nodded with a forced smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Bruce said kindly; Martha noticed that the false charm was back in place.

"Have you heard anything?" Martha asked.

"No, he's still in surgery," Lois replied.

"Where's Clark? Is he okay?" Martha asked. Lois' eyes shifted toward Bruce. He was clearly getting the 'This is not a loop I'm part of' vibe, and he shifted a little uncomfortably on his heels.

"How about some coffee?" he suggested.

"That would be wonderful, thank you, Mr. Wayne," Chloe smiled.

"Please, call me Bruce," he replied, sweetly.

"Bruce," Chloe repeated with slight annoyance, "Jimmy, why don't you go with him."

"Okay," Jimmy answered. He and Bruce headed back toward the nurses station and down the hall. Chloe thanked god that Jimmy didn't question why he was being sent away as well. She hoped she would eventually tell him about Clark but until then, she would have to be thankful that Jimmy knew when he wasn't supposed to hear something.

When the two men were out of earshot, Lois turned to her cousin and Mrs. Kent, her voice low, "He went to see his Jor-El."

"What?" Martha's face paled. She recalled the last time Clark went to see Jor-El during a crisis like this one. He nearly didn't come back.

"Yeah, he said something about thinking Jor-El had something to do with the storm," Lois continued.

"Oh, god," Chloe breathed.

"You haven't heard from him?" Martha asked.

"No, it's been a few hours too," Lois answered.

Chloe turned to Martha, "You don't think Jor-El…" she could finish. The thought of Clark not coming back was too much to bear.

"I think it's too early to tell. We need to be patient," Martha stated, showing the younger girls her calm resolve; problem was it was cracking: Clark was with Jor-El which was never a good thing, and Martha could do nothing to help her son beside have faith in him. She prayed that he would do what he knew was right.

"Excuse me," a high voice cut into the deep thoughts of the three women. Martha looked up to see a doctor in pink scrubs, carrying a clipboard, wearing a facemask around her neck, and standing just outside their circle.

"I'm Dr. Morton, which one of you is Lois?" the doctor asked. Lois raised her hand.

"Okay, Lois, the surgery went very well. Your father did great. Barring any further complications I would say that he's going to be absolutely fine. We would, however, like to keep him here for another night or two, just to make sure that he's good enough to go home, okay?"

Lois was smiling faintly, she nodded. Dr. Morton placed her hand on Lois' arm and smiled widely.

"He's gonna be great. He's asleep now, but we can come and get you when he wakes up," she said.

"Thank you," Lois replied, she was on the verge of tears again.

"You're welcome," Dr. Morton responded, walking away from them.

"Thank god," Chloe sighed, sitting down beside Shelby.

"What happened?" Bruce and Jimmy walked up carrying four coffees and a bottle of water under Jimmy's arm, "Here you go, Lois, Senator." He handed them the coffees, "We weren't sure how you took them," he reached into his pocket and pulled out dozens of sugar packets and tiny half-and-half containers, "So we left them black and figured you could pick."

"Thank you very much," Martha said sincerely, pouring a packet of sugar into her Styrofoam cup.

"Any time," Bruce replied, sipping slowly on his own coffee.

"So, what did the doctor say?" Jimmy asked, tightening the cover on his water bottle.

"The General's gonna be fine. The surgery went well," Chloe explained.

"That's great," Bruce declared.

Lois nodded, "Yeah," she got to her feet, "I think I'm gonna go get some air. Come on Shelby." The dog leapt off the chair and followed her down the hall. Chloe gave Martha a worried look but the older woman didn't respond; she merely watched Lois walk away.

Lois slipped out a side door near the Emergency Entrance and sighed slightly. She leaned against the side of the building and for the first time in quite a while, she wanted a cigarette. Thankful that she no longer carried one stashed in her purse, Lois whipped out her cell phone and flipped it open.

She took the time to search through her contacts list and find Clark's name. Her finger hovered over the 'Call' button for only a moment before she pressed down and held the phone to her ear. It rang for several moments before she heard Clark's voice over the line.

"Hey, this is Clark; leave a message." The phone beeped once.

"Hi, it's me…again. Dad's out of surgery and it went and he's gonna be okay. And I thought that you should know because I don't know…because you haven't answered any of my calls. And I know that you're with your father and I know I said you should go but this is bigger than that and it seems like you should be here or call me back, I mean, it's my dad and he's had a heart attack and…it's not okay….you know, it's not okay." She hung up the phone, letting her eyes slide closed, as she sunk to the ground next to Shelby.

(--)

The caves were exactly as they had always been. Clark heard the wind howling outside and through the deep holes in the earth but it didn't effect him. It was far colder where he was going. He stepped into the cavern that housed his one and only transport to the Fortress of Solitude.

"You're my father," he spoke to himself, "Talk to me."

He had said the words before, during the second meteor shower: the last time Jor-El had called to him. Clark slipped the key from his pocket and let it fall into place on the stone table. He was bathed in the familiar brilliant yellow light. He took a deep breath and let himself be pulled away from everything he loved.

The caves were suddenly quiet despite the wind that raged outside. The cavern was likewise rather silent. The only noise was a quiet beep that occurred every few seconds. The beep was coming from a cell phone sitting at the bottom of the stone table, blinking:

THREE NEW VOICE MAIL

(--)

When he opened his eyes again he was standing in what was once the frozen wasteland that now housed his crystalline palace, the only replicate of the home he had never known. He saw the familiar crystal panel and realized it had been quite a while since he'd last been here. It didn't bring him comfort.

"Did you send the storm?" he called, angry at his biological father.

"My son, I was unsure you would return," the voice of Jor-El replied, echoing around the cavernous place.

"Did you send the storm?" Clark asked again. Jor-El had taunted him these last years and he was through with taking the disembodied voice to anything serious.

"Fate has been twisted, it is balance."

"No, no cryptic crap. People are dying, Lois is in danger, my mother, Chloe! They don't deserve this! I'm here, you can stop the storm now!"

"I cannot control the Fates, my son. Things will be right again."

"How!?"

"You must embrace your destiny." Clark couldn't help but roll his eyes: Jor-El had been telling him the same thing for so many years that it had lost all meaning.

"I don't want my destiny! I don't want anything to do with it!"

"My son, you cannot deny your heritage. You are a son of Krypton, you are destined to be more than you are."

"More than I am? I'm happy with who I am!"

"You cannot stay here. You must continue your training."

"My training, but you said that would take years!"

"Yes, you must embrace your true identity, Kal-El."

"But Lois, I won't leave her!"

"Then she will die."

"What?! That's a lie!"

"No my son--."

Clark felt a wave of nausea wash over him as he felt himself falling backwards very slowly. Pictures flashed across his mind's eye. It was Lois: she was holding her side and her hands were covered in blood. She fell to the ground, still clutching her wound. She was gasping for breath. Clark heard himself screaming but there was only silence as he hit the ground. His vision swam back to him as the tops of the crystals above his head came into focus.

"It is the truth, my son."

Clark held his head as he slowly got to his feet, "You have to stop it."

"I cannot stop what is already in motion. If you return to her, Kal-El, she will die."

The memory of Lois' pale face flashed across his mind. Clark felt sick again. He didn't want to believe that what his father had shown him was the truth. He couldn't bear to think of Lois dying, let alone by herself in that dingy place. His heart ached and the pain was becoming too much.

"Okay," he whispered; silent tears were beginning to form at the corners of his eyes; he looked up into the crystal palace, "Fine! I'll stay!"

"Then it is done."

Light appeared from nowhere, pulling Clark into. He felt his body let go of him. This was the only stage of his training he had ever been through, he was being taught. There was nothing; he saw nothing, felt nothing, heard nothing: The only thing that reminded him he was still alive was the faint picture of Lois' in his mind's eye, and the memory of the joking promise he had made to her.

Five years…

(--)

A/N: End of Part One! Yay! I thought I'd never get here! Anyway, the next installment will be a little crazy and if you have trouble following just drop me a line. I hope you like, R&R please!


	10. Faces in the Stars

Part Two

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, those not in the comic books, and those not from the films. (So basically the trivial characters you don't recognize)

Previously: "…it's not okay….you know, it's not okay."

(--)

Cold sweat dripped down her face as she sat directly up in bed. She took a few ragged breaths: _It was only a dream_, she reminded herself as flashes came back to her. It might have been a play-by-play of the night Clark left. She felt herself shiver slightly.

It was warm for August, but, _not_, she thought bitter-sweetly,_ like those few days five years ago._ She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, hugging herself slightly. She pulled her hair free from the loose ponytail and let it cascade against her shoulders. Despite the warm air moving in from the open windows, Lois was cold. She chanced a look at the space beside her.

She shouldn't have bothered. She knew he wasn't going to be there. He was never there. It didn't normally bother her, even though she had already voiced a contradicting opinion on the subject. But tonight she could have used the company of anther body. She thought briefly about calling him before shaking her head and climbing from the covers.

There was no use disturbing him, she would only receive a lecture in response. She padded across the wide room, the tile only chilling her further, toward the bathroom. She flicked the light switch on: she loved this bathroom.

The tile floor was mirrored by a warm tan marble ceiling. The counter around the sink was forest-green granite. In the corner was an old fashioned bathtub which she loved to soak in for hours after a long day at work. Beside that, in the opposite corner of the spacious room was a shower; Chloe referred to it as the shower-room. Circular and completely enclosed in glass, it was Lois' favorite part of the luxurious bathroom.

Tonight: this would be her comfort. She dimmed the lights a little; it was the only part she didn't like: the harsh lighting. It made the bathroom feel sterile and cold, a stark contrast to the warm colors that decorated the room; she moved inside, feeling instantly better. She shrugged off her damp clothing, letting it rest on the floor. She stepped inside the shower and let the scalding hot water wash away the threads of her dream.

She closed her eyes and slipped into a quiet calm.

Something prickled at the back of her neck. The familiar feeling of being watched: it always seemed to occur when she was in the shower. She glanced around her, but there was nothing. She blinked and ran her hands over her soaking hair. _Calm down Lois, there's no need to panic_, she told herself, _it's just the chills._

There was no one in the bathroom. She couldn't deny that fact, but it felt like she was no longer alone. She briefly wondered if he had come home early, if he had sensed her discomfort; but that was only a fantasy. She stepped from the glass room and slipped a towel around her middle.

It was a quick shower but it made her feel immensely better. She sighed as she opened the bathroom door. As she thought, the vast bedroom was empty. She abandoned the towel for her robe. Tying it as she walked, she stepped out onto the balcony she generally avoided.

She couldn't say why she disliked the small balcony so much, but she never felt like she should be out there. It was irrational of course: this was her apartment after all. She ignored the discomfort as she moved through the opened French doors and placed a tense foot onto the terracotta stone. She reached for the railing and grasped it tightly. She wasn't afraid of heights, just of this balcony. She looked up into the bright night sky.

Stars peaked through the smog that coated the city. Lois was reminded of a time, years before, when she had looked at the stars through a telescope in a barn loft. She tried to picture how that night looked as she strained her eyes to see the stars tonight.

As she watched, something, moving at incredible speed, momentarily blocked out her view of the sprinkles. She blinked once but the object was already gone. She couldn't remember seeing any flashing red lights, so it couldn't have been a plane. _Maybe it was a bird_, she thought. Even as she moved back inside her apartment and closed the glass doors, she tried to ignore the strange feeling she got as the sight of that mysterious object.

_It was a bird, Lois, god, you're getting soft_, she mentally chided, _first you panic in the shower and now_…still she couldn't help but feel like_...Like what Lois?._ She walked to her wardrobe and pulled out a new shirt and shorts to put on. As she dressed she glanced at her alarm clock sitting by her king-sized bed.

12:24.

The red light burned itself to her retina. She was suddenly aware of everything. She roughly turned on her heel and dashed across the room, out into the main area and to the kitchen, which she rarely used, to her desk and the small calendar Chloe had given her for her birthday.

The night ran through her mind: her dream, the feeling of being watched, the mysterious object in the sky… She grabbed the calendar off her desk and ripped the page off. Her breathing stopped. Five years. Five years exactly. Today was the day.

She passed out on the floor.

(--)

"Chloe, think about it: it's been exactly five years, today, Clo, today. How can it not be connected?" Lois asked into her cell phone as she walked along 4th Avenue toward the Daily Planet, a muffin in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, her bag slung over her shoulder and her phone pressed to her ear.

"It's not that I don't think it's connected but, Lois, are you sure you aren't just hoping that maybe it's about him?" Chloe's soft voice made Lois roll her eyes. She loved her cousin dearly, but five years had made her more logical, something Lois didn't need right now.

"Yes, I'm sure, Clo, because I don't hope that he's coming back. I don't want him to," Lois replied. It wasn't a complete lie; she didn't want Clark to come back, because his return, she knew, would probably destroy the finely woven world she'd created for herself in his absence.

"Okay, Lois," Chloe didn't put up a fight. She knew Lois wasn't being completely honest, but she also knew that Lois had to believe that it was true, especially if Clark really was back.

"Oh, crap, I'm here, Clo, I gotta go," Lois said as she tried to juggle her breakfast while pushing the revolving door.

"Okay, well, I'll talk to you later," Chloe replied. Lois heard the click of the phone and in a skillful move she let the phone slip into her shouldered bag. She walked quickly to the elevator and stepped inside just as the doors were closing. She waited until the elevator, loading and unloading people at different floors reached the 15th Floor Newsroom to step out. By this time she had devoured half of her muffin.

She practically jogged to her desk so she could deposit her food. Jimmy was sitting a few seats away, toying with his camera. He looked up when she dropped her bag onto the floor, the sound echoing slightly.

"What the hell do you keep in there?" he asked. She grabbed at a sticky note stuck to her computer screen.

"My entire world," she replied distractedly, frowning as she read that Perry wanted to see her.

"What's that?" Jimmy inquired, pointing to the note.

Lois looked up and smiled, "Chief wants to see me." She walked through the newsroom toward Perry White's office. She glanced at the office nearby and smiled slightly. The lights were out but Chloe's homey touches were still evident in the darkness.

Lois missed her cousin being at work. Chloe always seemed to have an answer for everything, and she often stayed late with Lois when the brunette was working on a big story. Chloe had gotten Lois into journalism after all, and it was her influence with the new Editor, that got Lois the job at the Daily Planet.

But Lois couldn't begrudge her cousin for being gone for the last few weeks. Although Lois was the post-child for women having careers instead of children, she was terribly excited about Chloe's latest pregnancy. And Lois couldn't deny that she was impressed by her cousin: the woman was married, had one kid already, a baby on the way, and was the Assistant Senior Editor at Metropolis' finest (not to mention oldest) newspaper. Lois only wished that she could be half the woman her cousin had become.

She pushed the door to said Editor's office open as Perry turned around in his chair.

"Morning Lane," Perry said. To an untrained ear, Perry seemed to be in a bad mood, but to Lois, he sounded like a kid in a candy store.

"Morning Chief."

"Heard you had a little incident this morning," Perry was rearranging files on his desk.

"Chloe tell you that?" Lois questioned.

"Yes, your _Assistant Editor Sullivan_ did in fact make me aware that you fainted in your apartment this morning," Perry replied. He was being facetious just to annoy her, and possibly to further the point that Lois was supposed to refer to Chloe properly, though even he rarely did.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle," she responded with a shrug.

"So it would seem," Perry answered.

"So, what's with the note?" Lois held up the sticky in question.

"Two things: Metropolis has got a new Guardian Angel," Perry explained, "he saved three people last night, then stopped a convenience store robbery and rescued a kitten from a tree." Perry passed Lois the folder with the police reports about each incident.

"Sounds like a chump," Lois commented as she scanned the file.

"Sounds like your kinda guy," Perry remarked. Lois gave him a look; then closed the folder.

"So what's the second thing?" she asked, leaning her hands onto his desk.

"I found you a new partner."

Lois' hands briefly slipped and she jolted forward slightly before catching herself. She straightened as Perry got to his feet.

"Chief, we've been through this: I work better on my own!" Lois stated as she followed Perry out of the office and through the room.

"Yes, we have been through this Kid, and you are going to have a partner," Perry replied as he wove through the multitude of desks and people that dotted the room.

"But Chief--!"

Perry stopped and turned abruptly, "No, Lois, no buts."

Lois let her shoulders fall, "fine," they started walking again, "but let's agree that I don't actually need a partner for _my_ benefit, it's more for his, right?"

"Whatever you say, Kid," Perry answered. Lois rolled her eyes behind his back, "I saw that."

He moved swiftly around a group of people who moments before had been standing around doing nothing. As Lois tried to follow she ran directly into someone. Papers flew; her folder on the Guardian Angel along with them, leapt into the air and Lois fell backwards.

The chaos drew Perry's attention. He marched back toward his star reporter as she was being helped to her feet. Perry winced slightly as he realized who it was. Lois was not going to happy, but the old news hound continued toward her and the man she run into.

"Wow, brick wall, aren't we? Thanks," Lois said as she divided her papers from those of the person she'd run into, joking lightly to ease the inevitably awkward situation.

"No problem; sorry about that." The voice sounded chillingly familiar. Lois glanced upward. The glasses were new but other than that it was the same face. Her jaw dropped as a million emotions ran through her system: shock, pain, relief, disappointment, embarrassment, anger. They pretty much stopped on anger.

"Oh, good," Perry walked up to them, "You've run into him. Lois Lane this is Clark Kent, you're new partner." Perry's smile faltered as he looked between the sheepish face of his new employee and the death glare of his star investigator.

Lois slammed his papers against Clark's chest, turned on her heel, and walked back through the crowd, leaving a confused Perry and a depressed Clark in her stead. Perry glanced at the younger man.

"Don't worry, Kent, she's just not really used to the idea of a partner," Perry comforted.

Clark hesitated but decided not to correct the man who had held a job for him for so long. He looked at Perry, his memory flashing back to the first time they'd met; he gave the older man a small smile and nodded.

"She just needs a minute," Perry said, nodding. The slam of the door to Perry's office echoed through the room.

"Maybe a little longer," Clark suggested.

"Yeah," Perry agreed.

(--)

Lois paced across the room. Her mind raced wildly. She glanced out the glass panes of Perry's windowed office. Clark and the Chief were still standing in the midst of the newspaper office. She looked away when Clark's distant gaze landed on hers.

Impatiently, she chewed on her nails. Silently she cursed herself for ruing her manicure: it had cost her far too much. She glanced up once again and realized that Perry was walking toward her. She looked around him and noted that Clark was being embraced by Jimmy; the young photographer chatting excitedly at Clark.

Perry opened the door cautiously, slightly afraid of Lois' explosive temper. She looked at him, his eyebrow was raised, and his face told her that he thought she had lost her mind completely. She gave him a small smile.

"So you wanna tell me what happened out there, Lois, because I'm a little lost," Perry questioned possibly with a little more force than he had intentioned. He knew Lois Lane was a complex woman, and she had plenty of strange quirks that he could never quite understand, usually he had Chloe to help him with that, but with Chloe on hiatus, Perry was alone to deal with the psycho-ramblings of one Lois Lane.

Lois threw her hands in the air, "I don't know, Chief."

"Oh, yes, you do," Perry moved around his desk, sitting down behind it, "You know exactly, Lois, now, I think I deserve to know as well."

"I can't work with him, Chief, I'm sorry but I just can't," Lois answered. She flopped down into the chair opposite her boss' desk.

"I'm getting the 'you have a history' vibe," Perry commented.

"You could say that," Lois replied.

"So you slept with him, huh?" Perry asked the blunt questions: it was why Lois liked him so much: they shared the sometimes annoying characteristic of forwardness. When Lois had first started at the Planet, she had questioned that about them, he told her it was part of being a journalist; you had to be blunt, even if people don't want to hear it.

"Uh, it was a little more complicated than that," Lois indicated with her thumb and index finger.

"Don't say 'love', Lois, please don't say 'love'," Perry stared at his star-reporter, and groaned when she gave him a look. A former one-night stand Perry could deal with, but if Lois had been in love with the guy it was a whole other ball game. Perry had watched Lois, these past five years, in her relationships to people, and he had deduced one thing: she rarely ever truly loved, or trusted them.

He felt honored to be given a place in her inner circle, and while he was no Chloe, he always thought Lois felt comfortable divulging information to him. So learning that she had once, and possibly still did, love Clark Kent, Perry had an uneasy feeling that his brilliant plan of teaming them up was coming to an abrupt, and dangerous halt.

"Well, what'd you do? Run out on him?" Perry asked. He thought joking would relax Lois a little, it didn't; instead she tensed up and grew further introverted as she looked at him.

"Hardly," Lois snapped coolly.

"Really? He doesn't look like the abandoning type," Perry observed. He looked at Kent, standing far enough away that he was only about half his usual size, yet the man still seemed extremely tall, especially standing beside the undersized Jimmy Olsen.

Perry had known Clark for a long time, albeit, it was mostly through letters and the occasional phone call, but he has always believed the Clark was one of the greatest acquaintances Perry had ever had. Even as a young teen, Clark had gotten Perry off his ass and made the older man believe that he could be far more than he was. He'd always been thankful that Clark had saved his life that day.

"Looks can be deceiving."

Perry raised his eyebrows, "That bad, huh?" Lois replied with a silent glance. She got to her feet and walked to one of the large windows that surveyed the newsroom.

"You have no idea."

Perry got to his feet and stepped beside Lois, "Well, Kid, you're a professional,

I know you'll act like one."

Lois huffed and stepped away from him. Perry watched her walk from his office into the noisy bullpen. Lois had always lived up to--and vastly beyond--Perry's expectations of her, but he had a sinking feeling that she would not be able to fulfill his request. He sighed, and thanked God he had never reproduced.

(--)

"Hey," Lois said as she approached Jimmy and Clark, still standing near her desk. Jimmy turned slowly, his mouth open, mid-sentence.

"Hey, Lois," Jimmy said, his voice sounded a little shaky like he was uncomfortable in the high-tension situation that was Lois and Clark's reunion.

"Hi Lois," Clark said softly. Lois looked at him; for the briefest of moments, Clark saw sadness flash across her eyes. But it was quickly replaced with anger: a slow-burning, volcano-like anger, ready to burst from the depths of her soul (and probably her voice box) at any time.

"Jimmy, do you have those photos of the banquet?" So she was ignoring him, Clark thought miserably, he would have rather had her yelling.

"Yeah, they're downstairs in the dark room, drying," Jimmy explained.

"Can you get them for me, I want to finish up that article and send it over to Chloe before lunch," Lois requested.

"'Course, I'll do that now," Jimmy replied, backing away, "It was great to see you CK!"

Jimmy turned and practically ran away. Lois watched him go and suddenly felt like doing the same thing. Clark opened his mouth to speak again but Lois held up her hand. She gave him a warning look.

"No," she said simply.

"Lois-," he tried once more.

"No," she repeated, "This is neither the time nor the place, Clark." He bowed his head slightly, _well good; _Lois thought angrily, _it hurts doesn't it?_ She turned on her heel and walked away from him, back toward her desk.

She threw the file on the Guardian Angel onto the stack that had accumulated there since Chloe had last forced her to clean it. She sat down in the uncomfortable chair and rested her elbows on her desk. She leaned her forehead against her palms and breathed slowly; she closed her eyes and begged herself not to cry.

Clark Kent: back in Metropolis, back in her life….back in her head. Her mind danced through the memories of him. Her engagement and almost-wedding to Oliver, taking off to Metropolis with Clark, Room 4….the memories swirled together in her head until she wanted to throw up. Pressure on her shoulder and a faint whisper in her ear drew her away from her misery.

"They say misery loves company." His voice was dark, menacing, and yet there was underlying warmth that she had never been able to understand but has always found so comforting. She swiveled in her chair to face him. He was holding a brown bag and paper coffee cup.

"Misery loves coffee," Lois replied. Bruce handed her the cup. She lifted the lid and inhaled the warm scent of hazelnut and cinnamon. She gave him a gracious smile. He leaned against the corner of the table opposite her desk, his arms crossed over his chest. To the world, he was just watching a woman drink her coffee; to Lois, he was surveying the room, and staring at her like a hawk eyeing its prey making sure that it didn't stray far.

Lois enjoyed that she actually knew more about a person than the rest of the populous did. So many times she'd been in relationships with people who had kept secrets from her and expected her to not ask questions. With Bruce, she didn't ask questions, but he had never expected her not too. He had once told her that he was an open book, and he hoped that she would take the time to read. Lois had never really been interested in reading, but it was always nice to know the option was available.

In public, Bruce was often a chatter-box, he had a reputation to hold up, and despite the fact that he didn't care for it he lived up to his father's name with more prestige than he once had. It was rumored that Lois had something to do with his improvement, but Lois knew it had happened long before she had come along.

At home, Bruce was nearly always silent: Lois thought maybe he was doing it so she would have free-reign over the conversation topics. At first, it had made her feel awkward: she had always hated uncomfortable silences; but over the years, she had learned that Bruce simply liked to listen to her.

Now, he was being quiet, unusual since he was out in the public eye, especially in a room of reporters. Lois gave him a look, one he was used to getting: _what're you thinking?_

He gave her his charm smile and dropped his arms, "You look a little frazzled today."

Lois replied with a small smile: when prodded, Bruce changed the conversation to her.

"I'm okay, it's been kind of a hectic morning," Lois answered honestly.

"Chloe called me," Bruce stated cryptically. Lois winced: Chloe had done a fantastic job of informing everyone that she had passed out that morning hadn't she?

"She did huh?" Lois gave him a coy smile.

"You should have called me," Bruce urged.

"It was no big deal," Lois replied shortly.

Bruce didn't reply. He let them drift back to silence as Lois sipped her coffee. After a moment, his eyes moved swiftly to movement just behind the brunette. A tall man, taller even than Bruce, with a shock of dark-black hair, and overlarge glasses, was shuffling things on the desk that abutted Lois'. Bruce couldn't help but notice how Clark seemed to glance at Lois frequently.

"Bruce Wayne," he stepped forward and extended his hand. It seemed to surprise Clark, and the man nearly tripped over his chair and fell backwards. He steadied himself at the last moment and stared at Bruce's outstretched hand. Lois was watching him with a raised eyebrow.

"Clark Kent," Clark shook Bruce's hand strongly. It was Bruce's turn to be surprised. This didn't seem like the Clark Kent he had heard about, yet the shake had been firm, something Bruce only equated with men of a sure personality.

"So, you're Clark Kent," Bruce dropped Clark's hand.

"The, uh, one and only, I think," Clark pushed up his glasses with his index finger. He glanced at Lois, who was discretely sipping her coffee. Bruce followed Clark's gaze and noticed how Lois was clearly avoiding both men.

"I never really understood the word awkward till right now," Bruce joked lightly.

"Bruce, I, uh, I have work," Lois got to her feet.

"Right, of course, you normal people," his joke fell flat. He really wasn't doing well today, he thought. Lois gave him a weak smile.

"Will you be at the apartment--," Lois faltered and glanced at Clark.

"No, I have to head back to Gotham tonight," Bruce answered.

"For how long?" Lois inquired.

"Just the night," Bruce assured her. She nodded and smiled. Bruce brushed a kiss on her cheek.

"It was nice to meet you, Clark," Bruce nodded to him; Clark returned the gesture as Bruce walked out of the office, inevitably drawing the eyes of a dozen or so reporters. It was always the same way whenever Bruce dropped by to see Lois.

"Wow, he's, I didn't know…" Clark trailed off.

"You miss a lot of things when you're gone for five years," Lois snapped. _Bad Lois_, she thought, she wasn't ready to get into this now. Clark gave her his patented puppy dog look, but she refused to give into it. She turned her back on him. What was taking Jimmy so long? She gathered a few things from her desk and turned to him

"Welcome back, Clark," she said. He opened his mouth to reply but she was already gone, heading toward the elevators.

"Yeah, thanks," Clark answered to no one. His head dropped sadly. He wanted so badly for Lois to understand, to understand why he had been gone so long; he dreamed that she would run into his arms, that she would love him as much as she had that day…as much as he still loved her.

But he knew now that it was a pathetic dream: Lois had moved on. She was with Bruce Wayne. She was happy. And his presence did nothing but hurt her. He questioned choosing Metropolis as his home city: Lois was the only reason he had returned after all.

(--)

TBC...


	11. That Which We Call A Rose

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, those not in the comic books, and those not from the films. (So basically the trivial characters you don't recognize)

Previously: "You miss a lot of things when you're gone for five years."

(--)

"Lois, it's been two days," Chloe chided softly to Lois as the brunette sipped her coffee sitting next to Chloe in the doctor's office. Chloe was there for her final prenatal check-up and Lois had decided to tag along as means of both spending time with her estranged cousin and proving to herself once more that having children was not in her future.

"Your point?" Lois inquired, giving her cousin an eyebrow raise.

"My point, Lois, is that Clark has been back for two days and you haven't said more than five words to him," Chloe answered. She winced a little and placed a hand on her stomach as the baby kicked.

"He seems fine about it," Lois shrugged.

"Lois," Chloe's voice held a warning tone. She gave Lois a look: _since when has Clark Kent ever been _okay_ with something like this?_ Lois purposely turned away from her cousin. She focused instead on a young mother sitting with her two boys across the room.

The woman looked a little flustered. One of her sons was crying softly in her arms; he was maybe a year old and she had him held tightly to her chest, cooing softly in his ear. The other boy was sitting next to her, reading a comic book and munching loudly on a package of crackers, leaving crumbs all down his front.

Lois gave them a sad smile. She missed Chloe and she couldn't help but feel--selfishly she knew--that once the new baby was born she'd see Chloe less than she did now. The thought made Lois feel incredibly lonely. She squeezed her shoulders tightly.

Chloe glanced at Lois and frowned. The brunette looked depressed. Chloe wondered if Lois was thinking about Clark again. She recalled the first year Clark had disappeared: Lois seemed to have had good days and bad ones; but now Chloe knew that they had all been bad. Either Lois was throwing herself into work, or lying in bed with the covers pulled over her head.

Chloe had done everything she could think of to help Lois through the tough times but no matter what Chloe said she never felt like she was doing anything to help her cousin. Then suddenly, Lois seemed perfectly fine; she even gave into Bruce Wayne's romantic advances. The turn of events had surprised everyone, even Martha Kent, who had been trying to get Lois to open up.

"Ms. Sullivan?" A young male doctor entered the small waiting room from a door near Chloe's side. She looked up at him as he smiled, "Hello, Chloe, how are we doing today?"

Lois rolled her eyes slightly.

"Fine, Dr. Morton, how are you?" Chloe inquired getting to her feet with a little assistance from Lois.

"Fantastic; let's have a look see, why don't we?" Dr. Morton suggested holding the door open for Chloe to head into one of the exam rooms. Clo gave her cousin one last look before disappearing into the recesses of the doctor's office.

Dr. Morton gave Lois an all-too cheery smile, "We'll only be a few minutes," he said before following after Chloe. Lois' smile faded as soon as he was out of eyesight. She rolled her eyes again and faced forward once more.

The mother and her two young sons had disappeared toward the bathroom leaving Lois alone in the small room. She scanned the walls for a magazine but found nothing but pediatric journals and Men's Health, neither which interested her. She absently checked her cell phone; _No New Messages_.

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. Lois glanced up as a young man entered the room from the lobby. He was dressed in shorts and tee-shirt with a backwards baseball cap and sunglasses. Lois frowned at him until she noticed the stack of papers he was hanging onto. He dropped the large stack near a chair on the opposite side of the room, gave Lois a nod and kind smile, and left the room.

Lois gave the paper a brief glance: The Inquisitor. Lois smiled to herself. She couldn't help but admit that she'd had the most fun while working at the less than credible tabloid. The Daily Planet was a great job, but writing about the bizarre workings of the Smallville/Metropolis underworld had been worth the while.

She rolled her eyes at herself as she got up and grabbed a copy of her former employer. The cover was blazoned with a picture of Lana Luther wearing sunglasses, a baby-carrier on one arm and a small boy holding tightly to her other hand. Lois' heart went to the former cheerleader: Lana had been subjected to the public even more since she had left Lex. Not to mention she was losing the custody battle for their children.

Lois flipped through the pages, stopping on the article about Lana's latest battles against Lex. The pages were splashed with pictures of Lana and her son, Alexander, pictures of her baby girl, Lilly, pictures of Lana's late parents, even some of her as one of Smallville High School cheerleaders. Lois wasn't surprised when she read Linda Lake's name on the by-line, though she was impressed that the woman had managed to keep a hold onto her job. Lois didn't read much of the article, just a line here, a sentence there; she didn't care for gossip even if it was about someone she knew personally.

She closed the tabloid and placed it back on the top of the pile. She checked her watch again. Chloe had only been gone ten minutes but Lois was getting restless. She pulled her cell phone from her purse and stared at it, willing it to ring. She was so focused on wishing for the phone to vibrate in her hand that she jumped when it actually did.

She breathed heavily and laughed at herself as she flipped open the phone and held it to her ear, "Lois Lane."

"Lois, it's Clark." Lois winced. This was the only phone call that she didn't want to pick up. She briefly wondered if she should just close the phone and forget that Clark had called but she could hear Martha Kent's voice in her head telling her that this was a step she needed to take.

"Clark, what's up?" She tried not to sound to annoyed.

"Um, well, I wanted to…Perry wants to see you," Clark replied quickly. Lois rolled her eyes for the third time. Whether she had been angry at him or not, she had missed Clark Kent; but the man who had shown up in the Daily Planet two days before was not Clark Kent. He was a bumbling, shadow of the man he used to be: the man Lois had fallen in love with. Ironically, it made it easier for Lois to hate him now.

"What about?" Lois inquired, hoping she could get some information out of Clark before she ditched Chloe and headed back to work on a whim.

"I don't know," Clark answered.

Lois sighed loudly, then winced again. Clark was apparently as astute about her moods as he always had been. He sensed that he was annoying, made up some reason why he had to go and hung up, leaving Lois feeling a little guilty; not, however, guilty enough to even begin to forgive him.

(--)

_That was a complete waste of time_, Lois thought miserably as she sat at her desk four hours later. Clark had mysteriously disappeared and Jimmy was bringing Chloe home--a job Lois would have been glad to do had Clark not called her back to the office for a worthless meeting with Perry.

She cracked her fingers painfully and set to finishing her article. A sewage treatment plant in south Metropolis had been dumping into a reservoir which a local farming community used as a water supply. It had taken Lois only two weeks to gather enough information to divulge the truth and help the police catch the guilty culprits. Now she was adding a follow-up article about those convicted to her rap sheet.

She leaned back in her chair and heard the painfully annoying sound of her computer receiving an email. She shrunk the Word document that contained her article and pulled up her email. There was one new message from an unknown sender. She clicked on the box, praying that it wasn't a virus, and the text of the email sprang up on her screen.

_Guardian Angel. The roof. Fifteen minutes. _

Lois raised a suspicious eyebrow. No one knew that she was working on the Guardian Angel story aside from a few people. She glanced around the newsroom but everyone was busy doing their jobs, something Lois had ought to be doing lest she no longer wanted hers. Still, curiosity had always been her Achilles Heel.

Grabbing her coat, Lois got up from her chair. She began to walk to the elevator but hesitated. She hurried back to her desk and dug through the accumulation of papers finally pulling out the file on the Guardian Angel that Perry had given her the day Clark had returned. She thumbed through it as she rode the elevator to the 20th floor. She found herself in a hallway of closed office doors: this was where men like Bruce sat around all day and pretended to care about the newspaper.

Lois briefly wondered what was going on behind all those closed doors before walking through the metal door that opened to the short set of stairs which led to the roof. As she pushed the roof door open she felt the chill of the wind. At this height even late August was cold and she wrapped her coat tighter around her shoulders.

Not surprisingly, Lois seemed to find herself alone, with only the large, rotating globe for company, and yet instantly she wished she hadn't come up here at all. She was a strong believer in gut intuition--it helped her unearth some of her best stories--but she often wished that her gut would kick in before her curiosity got her into sticky situations: situations like the one she felt she had just walked right into.

For the first year they were dating, when Lois was rattling a lot of important people's cages, Bruce often worried about her, despite her extensive self-defense training, and she had to admit, there were times when she worried about herself. The first year she had been at the Planet she had been reckless and careless. She had jumped into an attack on Lex Luther and had nearly ended up in a full-body cast for the price of it.

It had been snowing that night, she remembered the details vividly; she was walking back to her car from the restaurant where she and Chloe had eaten a late-night meal. She was opening her door just as a SVU came barreling at her and her car. She barely managed to jump out of the way before the SVU slammed into her car. She'd gotten away with a broken wrist and some bruises; they had never found the SVU or its driver.

Since then she hadn't been as fearless. She had published her article on Lex and LutherCorp but she had been far more careful about herself in later years. Thinking now, atop the roof of the Daily Planet, she realized that she was doing the exact opposite of that.

Without further hesitation, Lois disregarded her curiosity and walked back toward the door to the warm building. She winced when she felt something grab hold of her coat. Her first instinct was to swing her arm around and slam her fist into the person's face. They reeled back both from the pain and force of impact. It gave Lois the time she needed to bolt out of his grasp and closer to the door.

She reached out her hand to take the handle when she felt the full weight of someone's body crash into her mid-section. She collapsed forward onto the hard concrete of the Daily Planet's roof. She kicked out with her boots, aiming for painful points of contact. She felt her heel collide solidly with his knee cap. He let out a gruff sound before finally gaining the position he needed to close his hands around her throat.

She clawed at his fingers as she felt herself slowly being deprived of oxygen. She lashed out digging her nails into his cheek but it did nothing to loosen his grip, only making it more forceful. She felt her head begin to spin and blackness creep into her vision. She willed herself not to pass out, repeating it over and over again in her head.

With her last bit of strength she shoved her knee upwards into his groin. He released her neck and rolled over in pain. Lois was able to push herself off the ground but he caught her ankle as she started to run for the door again. She felt her body collide with the pavement once more and tasted blood as her chin slammed into the unforgiving stone.

She kicked her ankle, trying to throw off his hand but she was quickly losing energy; and it seemed this made his grow infinitely stronger. He was back on his feet, dragging Lois by her ankle toward the edge of the building. She thrashed, whipping her hands and legs wildly. Finally, he stopped dragging and pulled Lois upright by her hair. She attempted to punch and kick him violently but he did not relent. Placing a hand on her throat, he forced her backwards over the edge.

A silent scream escaped her lips as she waved her hands manically, clutching at air. She saw her attacker look over the side once before disappearing into the dark sky. The wind whipped past her as she hurtled toward the street. She found herself wishing that she'd had more time in life.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact when her body would collide with the sidewalk and probably exploded from the force of it; but the collision never came. She opened her eyes when she felt something come under her body and in a swoop pull her away from death.

She gasped when she saw that she was being carried. She was being carried by a man in red cape. She was being carried by Clark Kent. _Am I dead?_ She thought briefly, recalling many a dream where she was flying with a man in a red cape.

But the turn of his head, the proud smile he gave her as she sat cuddled into his arms; the feeling of him holding her; the blue of the eyes no longer interrupted by too-large frames; she suddenly realized that this was the Clark she'd been waiting for: he had finally come back.

"Don't worry, Lois, I've got you," he said. His voice was the same as it had been that afternoon and yet it was infinitely different. It held within it everything that made up the Clark Kent that Lois remembered from Smallville. And still, he was so much more than he had once been: they were flying for one thing. Lois glanced downward as the city passed beneath them, people pointing and some even clapping.

"Well, who's got you?" she inquired, giving him an uneasy smile. She felt wind rush past her once more as they rocketed upward briefly and then landed lightly in front of the Daily Planet entrance.

"You be careful now, Miss Lane," he said as he began to rise upward once more, his arm raised above his head. She stared up at him in awe as he flew off into the night, people surrounding her.

"Who was he?" a woman near Lois' side asked.

"The Guardian Angel!" another exclaimed.

Lois felt herself fade into the crowd of people watching after Clark. She finally let her gaze drop from the sky, suddenly remembering what had happened on the roof. She turned on her heel and jogged back into the Planet building. She rode the elevator back up to the newsroom and skillfully avoided several reporters as she made her way into Perry White's office.

"Lois!" Perry was surprised by her sudden entrance. She hadn't spoken to him much since he'd assigned Kent to be her partner. She seemed out of breath and a little wind-blown.

"We just got the story of the century!" she stated. Perry raised an eyebrow at her. Lois pulled her coat off her shoulders and slung it over her arm as she leaned into Perry's desk.

"I was just thrown off the roof of this building," she said it as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"My god, Lois, are you all right?!" Perry looked over the young woman: she didn't seem to be injured at all.

"I'm fine. That's the best part: I was saved by a man," Perry gave her a disbelieving look, "a _flying_ man."

"You were saved by a flying man?" Perry inquired.

"Yes, a _flying_ man."

Perry got to his feet as he suddenly realized the implications, "The Guardian Angel."

"Bingo baby."

"Lois, you were just saved by the Guardian Angel."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, did you get a look at him? Do you know him? What does he look like?" Perry fired off questions but Lois suddenly froze. Clark was wearing those stupid glasses for a reason: he was hiding his true identity. She thought back to Ollie and even Bruce. She definitely had some sort of unconscious attraction to men like them.

"Lois?" her boss was questioning her silence. She looked up at him, hoping he could read the lie by her eyes.

"No, I don't know who he is," she said. Perry frowned.

"Oh, well, at least we've got a first hand account. Forget the sewer review, I want an article on this Guardian Angel on my desk by morning!" Perry returned to his seat.

"Yes, sir," Lois answered as she headed for the door. Her hand was barely on the knob when Perry's voice echoed through the room again.

"And Lois," she turned to him, "come up with something better than 'the Guardian Angel'; it's too religious."

"Got it, Chief," Lois left the office with far less enthusiasm than she had entered. She knew Perry was going to let her write the article, it was the reason she'd rushed to tell him anyway, now she was afraid that her current situation with Clark would somehow impact her ability to relate the events.

_They are two completely different people, Lois,_ she reminded herself, and yet even she had trouble believing it to be true.

(--)

Her fingers were frozen over the keyboard, a phenomenon she had never before experienced. For the life of her, Lois could not type one word on the white screen of her computer. She'd been sitting that way for almost twenty minutes and still no words poured out of her head, through her fingers and onto the page.

Bruce was sitting beside her on the couch, looking over some budget plans for Wayne Enterprises. She'd told him about the events of the evening, leaving out as she was now bound to do, that it was Clark who had been the mysterious flying man in the tights and cape, both of which she planned to mock furiously when she started talking to him again. Bruce had been instantly worried which turned to regret for not being there to save her himself.

She assured him that she felt no hard feelings about it. He mentioned he'd look into whoever it was that attacked her but Lois knew that he would find no trace of her assailant. She drawn up a bad sketch of the man's face and given it to him anyway.

Now she was sitting, her computer on her lap, Bruce slouched next to her, the faint sounds of classical music playing on the stereo in the bedroom, and for all her talent at reporting a story, could not think of a single thing to write. Bruce had suggested she give the guy a name; he offered some things that would "strike fear into the hearts of the corrupt" but Lois didn't feel like any of them really fit Clark.

Not to mention that she still had to stop referring to him as Clark in her mind. Clark wasn't a superhero; Clark was a farm boy from Smallville who wore far too much plaid and who Lois had been more than a little in love with. Clearly his sense of fashion had not improved in the past years, Lois thought jovially.

"How's it going?" Bruce asked, looking up at her from his budget reports. Lois gave him a look, "That good, huh? Maybe you should take a break," he suggested.

"I can't, Perry wants this on his desk by the morning," Lois replied. Bruce apparently didn't find that threatening; he closed Lois' laptop and pulled it from her grasp with a smile.

"Trust me, a break will help you refuel," Bruce reassured her. Lois rolled her eyes a little as he got to his feet and pulled her up by her hands. He kept one of his hands wrapped tightly around hers as he led her in the direction of her bedroom.

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the exposed palm softly. Lois smiled at him, feeling her tension start to slip away momentarily. He pushed her bedroom door open and pulled her gently inside.

She felt the rush of falling and started awake. She breathed rapidly as she looked around her bedroom. Bruce was asleep beside her, something that rarely happened anymore, the darkness filling in the corners of her room. She threw the covers off as the wisps of her dream trailed after her.

She padded across the room and through the open door. The lights were still on and her computer was still sitting on the coffee table. She glanced at the clock over the unused kitchen stove. It was nearly three in the morning and she still had nothing for her article that Perry would require to see when she walked in, only six hours later.

She sat down on the couch once more and pulled her computer onto her lap. The screen lit up instantly when she lifted the cover. The white screen of the Word Document glared harshly at her in the dim lighting. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision. She felt her self relax as she finally began to type.

_Saved By…_

Saved by who? She still hadn't come up with a name for Clark's alter ego. Her mind flashed through the both the events of the evening and every conversation they had had about his powers while they were together. Her mind whirled as time mixed together, focusing on one thing, the yellow 'S' blazoned across his chest. She drifted back to varsity jackets and football games when a quarterback wore a similar yellow 'S' on his front.

She shook the memory of happier times away and focused once more on the task at hand: a name. Super-hearing, super-speed…_super, super, super-man…Superman. _Lois stared at her computer screen. Superman? It was only slightly mocking; subtle enough that only a few people would see the appearance of Lois' personality breaking through the name.

"_Saved By Superman" by Lois Lane._

She typed the words carefully. It didn't sound bad. A name, she'd given him a name. With the reassurance that he had a name, something she could call him besides Clark, something to separate the savior from the heartbreak, she found she could move through the events of the evening far more objectively. He was two different people, that's all she had to remember.

(--)

"Superman!" Perry threw Lois' article down on his desk with enthusiasm, "Lois this is genius!"

The reporter in question stood before him, her arms crossed over her desk, with a pleases smile on her face. She'd neglected to mention to Perry that she'd only finished the article half an hour ago, but it was evident he didn't mind her late-night grammar or spelling.

Beside her, Clark stood uncomfortably. Perry had suggested Lois bring him in on the meeting so he could read something of publishing caliber; something his own partner had written. Now, as Lois could understand, he was fidgeting nervously while Perry read over the article.

"Thanks Chief," Lois replied, moving her hands to her hips.

"Too bad we don't have a photo to go along with it," Perry frowned. Lois gave Clark a quick look but which he returned apprehensively.

"I think it's fine without a picture," Lois attested quickly, feeling she should offer Clark some assistance, he had after all saved her life the night before.

"Hmm, well, we'll see what Olsen can dig up," Perry decided.

The three stood in silence as Perry reread the article, then he looked up at them, a reporter's glint in his eye, "An interview!"

"A what?!" Both Lois and Clark exclaimed.

"We need an interview with him," he held up his hand and annunciated each word, "The Man Behind the Cape."

"Chief I don't know about that. I don't think he's just hanging around, you know, waiting for me to find him," Lois warned, leaning forward.

"Oh, I'll bet that bet that if Lois went back up on the roof Superman would find her," Clark suggested. Lois gave him a dangerous look.

"Great idea, Kent, Lois the roof," Perry instructed.

"But Chief, you do remember that I had a very unfortunate incident on the roof last night; I'm not really keen on going back up there."

"Oh, don't worry Lois," Clark stepped toward, "If sure Superman would make sure you were okay." Lois' glare darkened and Clark backed up a step.

"Lois, you'll be spending the rest of your shift on the roof; Kent…go do whatever it is that you do around here," Perry waved them from the office.

When the door was closed Lois turned on Clark; poking him in the chest with her finger she whispered, "You and I need to have a very special conversation."

With that she stalked over to her desk, took hold of her coat and purse and walked to the elevator. Clark watched as she stepped inside and let his x-ray vision follow her up to the roof level. He smiled faintly to himself and followed after her.

(--)

Lois cautiously opened the door to the roof. She glanced around her: she was alone, hopefully for real this time. She stepped out onto the concrete; her eyes were immediately drawn to the edge where she'd gone over. She brushed away the chill that ran up her spine.

"Hello, Miss Lane." The voice made her jump. She turned and rolled her eyes. Clark Kent dressed in his Superman garb was floating just over the side of the building. She gave him a tight smile.

"Right on time," Lois said sarcastically, pulling out her tape recorder from her purse.

"I was close by," Superman replied.

"Funny," Lois stepped closer to him; Clark floated over the edge and set down on the rooftop in front of her, "So, let's start at the beginning," Lois suggested, "Who are you?"

Clark nodded, almost imperceptibly, "My name is Kal-El; I was born on a distant planet, called Krypton; my parents sent me here just before Krypton was destroyed."

"Destroyed? By whom?" Lois inquired, frowning.

"A general, named Zod," Clark replied.

"Oh," Lois nodded for him to continue, "We know you can fly, anything else?"

"Super-speed; super-hearing; super-strength…" Clark voice seemed to trail off, though Lois knew he was still talking, all she could see in her mind's eye was a similar conversation when a handsome farm boy in borrowed clothes had explained his super-powers to a tenacious girl in a motel room. She was starting to break: in four and half years she hadn't so much as cried a tear for Clark Kent; but remembering the day when he had revealed himself to her was tearing down her carefully built wall.

"Faster than a speeding bullet?" Lois joked, her voice cracking.

"Usually," Clark replied with a soft, sad smile. Lois looked down at her feet. She clicked off the tape recorder and met his eyes once more, this time hers beginning to fill up with warmth.

"Where did you go?" she asked, her voice low, pained.

"The Fortress," Clark replied softly.

"That place in the Arctic? You've been there for five years?"

"I was training." Clark answered and he knew it was not what Lois needed to hear.

"Training?! You left me alone on the most frightening day of my life to train in the Arctic!" Lois felt her anger start to bubble, the pain was turning back into rage.

"I didn't have a choice," Clark's voice got slightly louder: he desperately wanted Lois to understand his reasons for leaving but he knew she would not; it wasn't in her nature.

"You didn't have a choice?! You chose to leave! You could have stayed!"

"No, I couldn't, Lois, I had to go! You said to go!" Clark winced when Lois' eyes lit: wrong thing to say.

"I said be back soon: soon is not _five years_ later!" Lois snapped, "My father was in the hospital, you weren't there!"

"Lois, I needed to go--."

"I needed _you_. I mean, I was in that hospital for two day--two days--I didn't I know where you were, I didn't even know if you were coming back!"

"Lois…"

"You know the worst part about it, when you weren't there, part of me wasn't surprised," Lois crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a solemn look. The anger had faded but Lois' words stung them both. Clark's hands hung by his side; he couldn't look at her.

"It's not fair."

"Well, life's not fair," Lois remarked.

"I don't like this; us; where we are," Clark motioned between them with his hand.

"Did you leave for five years without telling me?"

"Yes."

"Can you change that?"

"No."

"Then, honey, we are where we are," Lois answered. She pulled her purse over her shoulder, throwing the tape recorder inside. She fidgeted slightly and Clark understood that she wanted to leave: but Lois Lane would never run away from a fight.

"I have to go," Clark stepped up on the ledge.

"Right," Lois nodded.

"I'm sorry, Lois," he added before bending his knees and taking off around the Daily Planet globe. Lois brushed a stray tear from her cheek, watching him disappear into the clouds above. She turned and walked back into the building.

Perry White happened to be out on the newsroom floor when Lois walked past. She was marching through the room, a file tucked under her arm, her coat and purse in her hands. He frowned, recalling quite well that he'd specifically ordered Lois to be on the roof waiting for Superman.

"Lois--!"

"You'll have the interview by tomorrow morning," Lois assured him as she walked past.

"You got it?! Great! Where are you going?" he called after her.

"Sick leave!" She replied as she stepped into the elevator.

Perry raised an eyebrow, frowning after his star reporter. She seemed a little more frazzled than when she'd gone up to the rooftop. He thought he might call Chloe later and ask her about it, but the idea drifted out of his when Jimmy walked up to him carrying a stack of photographs.

"Olsen, those better be of Superman!"

(--)

R&R please!

You're comments and requests for updates have really gotten me through my case of writer's block, so thank you. You might recognize some of these conversations, and actually the conversation from Gilmore Girls and my desire to use that in reference to Smallville was the thing that inspired this whole fic! Who'd a thunk it?!


	12. BreakUp, Breakfast and Babies

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, in the comics, or in the films. (Basically, the trivial characters)

Previously: "Honey, we are where we are."

(--)

Lois handed the taxi driver a twenty and instructed him to keep the three dollar change. She unfolded her tense body from the backseat of the cab and closed the door behind her; she had barely removed her hand from the edge of the door before the car sped off, weaving through traffic. Lois watched it for a moment more; Bernie, the doorman, waved to her as she slipped past him and into the well-lit lobby of her apartment building.

She stepped into the elevator, and sighed as the doors closed in front of her. She watched the small hand move over each number as the elevator passed that floor. It was mesmerizing and her mind started to drift back to a place she didn't want to be. Clark's face was burning her retinas and she desperately try to blink back the tears that threatened to fall once more.

She felt like she was in a stupor as she stepped off the elevator and into the short, brightly painted hallway that led to her apartment. She pulled her keys out of her purse and opened the door revealing Bruce waiting near her kitchen counter. He turned and she stepped into his open embrace.

Lois rested her chin on Bruce's shoulder. She made a mental note that he was dressed unusually for hanging out in her apartment; he was wearing a charcoal gray v-neck shirt and a darker blazer. Her reporter's eyes scanned the room for a plausible reason: a few suitcases sat piled together near the door.

She pulled away and looked at him, "When are you gonna be back?"

He gave her a sad look; she frowned at him but the look on his face made her draw away and then the realization hit her. She'd seen the look before, many times unfortunately. She felt tears start to prick at the corners of her eyes, but they didn't crest her cheeks. "You're not coming back, are you?"

"No, Lois," Bruce answered honestly. She stepped fully from his grip and turned away from him.

"You know how many guys have said that to me," she said. Bruce stepped toward her and placed a hand on the crook of her elbow. She looked at him and memories of Oliver shifted through her brain.

"And you know what, they never seem to stay gone," Lois joked. Bruce smiled softly.

"Lois, the truth is, I messed up," Bruce stated making Lois frown again, "I know when we got into this we said that love was never an issue; I never expected you to love me, Lois, and I never expected that I'd love you."

Lois froze. She blinked but Bruce's expression did not change.

"Bruce…"

"Lois, if you love me, I will stay here in Metropolis, I'll forget about Batman and Gotham, we'll buy a house, the whole deal; if you love me, just say the word."

Bruce waited for an answer which he knew would never come. When silence enveloped the room, Bruce couldn't stand still any longer; he took a step toward the door but Lois closed a hand around his arm. He looked back at her: her eyes were wide and filling with tears, but, as usual, she wouldn't let them fall.

"Bruce, I want you to know, you're the one I want to want," Lois stated softly, her voice cracking. Bruce turned and embraced her again. He squeezed her tightly, breathing in the soft scent of her hair. He kissed her forehead and then swept away from her.

He was at the door before she felt he was gone. She looked up: his hand was on the door but he was watching her. He gave her a sad smile.

"If you ever need him," Bruce began.

"I'll call," Lois replied, interrupting him. She smiled through her damp eyes. Without another word, Bruce and his suitcases were gone. The door closed behind them with a hollow echo. Lois hugged her arms to her chest and walked to the couch.

She curled into a ball and felt herself begin to shake with emotion but she did not cry. Her eyes roamed the room and memories began to take hold: memories of Bruce, memories of Clark, Oliver, A.C. every guy who had left her. Suddenly, she couldn't be in her apartment anymore.

She launched herself off the couch and out the door.

(--)

Chloe opened the door and stepped aside to let her cousin enter the house late that night. The blonde didn't ask any questions; she just watched as Lois flopped down on the couch, curled up into a ball and pulled the throw over her body. Chloe shook her head sadly before returning to her own room, careful not wake Jimmy.

Lois could feel the sunlight penetrating her eyelids and she was surprised that she'd fallen asleep. She didn't want to move and was resigned to remain on Chloe's couch for the next twenty years of her life. But apparently, Rory didn't know that and she threw herself at Lois when she saw the woman sleeping on her couch. Lois hugged the little girl tightly, finally opening her eyes to the bright room.

Rory snuggled under the blanket next to Lois who turned on the television. 'Tom and Jerry' was playing and the child giggled when Tom got hit in the face with his plate of food. The sound was music to Lois' ears; she loved it when Rory laughed. It reminded her of a time when she had listened to Lucy laugh in the same manner.

The sound of heavy footsteps brought Lois' eyes to the stairs behind them. A tired Jimmy was tromping down the wooden staircase, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He saw Lois and Rory on the couch and sighed quietly.

"So it was you last night? I should have known," Jimmy said, only half annoyed by Lois' presence. He'd gotten used to Lois showing up and crashing on their couch. He just wished that Chloe would try to help her beloved cousin at normal visiting hours instead of eleven-thirty after a hard day's work at the Planet.

"Sorry, Jimmy," Lois pushed herself off the couch, leaving Rory to be entertained by Tom aimless chasing Jerry around a boat. Jimmy was pouring water into the coffee pot and pressing the button.

"It's okay Lois, I should have expected you, what with the events of the last two days," Jimmy replied honestly. He really did understand that Lois was having a difficult time dealing with Clark's reappearance in her life, not to mention nearly dying and then being rescued by Metropolis' newest superhero. It was a lot for anyone to handle.

"Thanks Jimmy," Lois said sincerely. He simply smiled and handed her a coffee cup.

A few minutes later, Chloe came down in her bathrobe, rubbing her stomach softly. Lois and Jimmy smiled as she walked into the kitchen and scowled at their filled coffee cups. Jimmy handed her a glass of orange juice instead.

"Must you rub it in?" Chloe inquired, glaring at the decadent liquid energy Lois was practically inhaling.

"I like coffee, besides, I'm not the one who said you shouldn't drink it, remember?" Lois nodded at Jimmy who was giving Chloe a guilty look.

"I don't want the kid to have three heads, okay, besides, it worked with Rory." At the sound of her name, Rory looked over at her family, her face lighting up when she realized her mother had come down stairs without her knowledge. She flew off the couch and hugged her mother's wide middle as gently as a four year old knew how. Chloe patted her daughter's head.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" Chloe asked.

"Mommy, it's Saturday," Rory replied precociously.

"Is it?" Chloe looked at Lois and Jimmy; Lois' nodded, "Jeez, all the days are starting to meld together; I swear if this kid isn't born soon, I'm gonna go stir crazy!"

"Relax, Clo, didn't doctor what's-his-name say it would be any day now?" Lois sipped her coffee once more and nearly choked on the look her cousin gave her.

"It's been 'any day now' for two weeks!" Chloe snapped.

"Don't get mad Mommy, the baby will come when he'd ready," Rory said. Chloe looked down at her tiny daughter and smiled. She bent as low as she could.

"You're right Peanut," Chloe replied, kissing Rory on the cheek. She stood up and looked at Lois and Jimmy, "But I would like to see my ankles again before I die," she joked.

"And on that note," Lois pushed away from the counter and put her coffee cup in the sink, "I'm going back into the office to type up my interview."

Chloe and Jimmy glanced at one another. Jimmy gave his wife a reassuring nod and Chloe hurried after her cousin, "Lois, wait!"

The brunette looked up at her, "Yeah?"

"Can we sit?" Chloe indicated the couch behind Lois.

Lois knew what her cousin was doing; it was a maneuver she'd used often before; it was how she had gotten Lois to open after Clark had left, and she was going to use it again now that he was back. Still, Lois sat down on the sofa, Chloe perching next to her.

"What's up, Clo?" Lois asked out of formality, though she knew where the conversation was heading.

"I wanted to talk to you about Clark," Chloe began. It was a risk, she knew, this early in the conversation Lois could still run, but Chloe decided to ignore it: she needed to know what was going on with her cousin.

"What about Clark?"

"I know you said you're okay with him being back but I don't think that's really true."

"You're faith in me is really astounding," Lois snipped.

"Lois please don't patronize me, I'm only trying to help," Chloe replied bitingly.

Lois sighed and her voice softened, "I know Clo, I'm just on edge."

"Why, Lois?" The tone of her voice spoke of a terrible desire to understand, but Lois felt guilty about throwing her problems down on her cousin. She'd been doing it for far too many years now. And still, she couldn't help wanting to unwind.

"I interviewed Superman yesterday," Lois replied cryptically. It was not was Chloe expected to hear and her face depicted that; Lois gave her a short smile.

"Oh, wow, what's he like?" Chloe inquired. She was reminded of her days in Smallville when she used to hunt down people like this mysterious Superman.

"He wears a lot of _primary_ colors," Lois' eyes were expressive as she spoke through gritted teeth, "He's faster than a _speeding_ bullet, he's got _super-hearing_."

Chloe frowned at Lois, but the brunette just gave her a look and waited for her to figure it out. Super-speed, super-hearing…the list trailed off in her mind as her eyes grew wide and she gasped. Lois nodded and suddenly Chloe understood why the interview had put Lois on edge. She'd been interviewing the man that had saved her, she'd been interviewing Clark Kent.

"Oh boy," Chloe breathed.

"Yeah," Lois agreed.

"No wonder," Chloe gave her cousin an understanding look, but Lois shook her head.

"Actually, Bruce sent me here last night," Lois amended.

"Huh?" Chloe frowned again.

"He's gone," she said simply.

"How long this time?" Chloe questioned; it was not uncommon for them to have this part of the conversation: Bruce was gone a lot, especially lately. But Chloe couldn't understand the expression on Lois' face.

"For good," she answered.

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment and breathed out silently. Lois had been through many break ups, some far worse than others, but Chloe was surprised by Lois' attitude with her last few.

"There's something I don't understand, Lois," Chloe began, "Oliver left, he broke your heart; and yet when he comes back you immediately accept his proposal and everything's hunky-dory; but when Clark shows up, you won't even give him the time of day…what's with that, Lois?"

Lois looked at Chloe and rose from the couch; she crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the window at the white-picket-fence-neighborhood in which Chloe and Jimmy had decided to reside. She looked back at her cousin after a minute.

"Ollie…he…it…Clo have you ever been in a situation where you knew something was happening between you and this other person but you know that nothing good can come of it, whether because of the person or because of yourself?" Lois hurried back to the couch and took her cousin's hands, "Clark was my someone; that night, when Ollie proposed: it was the night of Lex and Lana's wedding. Clark and I had been talking and there was a moment--I panicked, Ollie asked me to marry him and all I could think about was Clark; I didn't want to get hurt because I knew he still loved Lana, and I didn't want to go through what you did, Clo, I couldn't go through it.

"And now, now I see Clark and I remember those feelings; I remember the last time I saw him and it hurts; it hurts so badly. I don't want to love him again, Chloe, and I'm afraid that if I let him in, I will. I can't go through that again, Clo, I can't lose him again. I won't survive."

Tears streaked Lois' face as she squeezed her cousin's hands tightly. Chloe could only stare at her, mouth hanging open slightly, amazed by Lois' honesty. It was a rare occasion that Lois was truly and utterly honest about something and Chloe was honored to be the one she usually opened up to, but the intensity in Lois' eyes scared her still.

"Lois, this is going to sound clichéd, but sometimes you can't fight it," Chloe offered gently, "Look, Lo, you have to forgive people, because everyone makes mistakes. Did you ever think he left to protect you?"

Lois frowned through her tears, "What?"

Chloe looked at her cousin tentatively, "He let because he thought you were going to die if he stayed."

"Why would he think that?" Lois inquired.

"Jor-El told him."

Lois was shocked. Why hadn't Clark just told her that? _Because you never gave him the chance!_ And she knew that it was true. What Chloe had said was true: she'd never even given Clark the opportunity to explain things; honestly, it had been because she was afraid of the answer. She'd been afraid it would be something honorable and it would make her feel guilty about wanting him to stay.

But the thought that it had been for her: to save her, the revelation made her sick to her stomach. She realized with anger that she'd been selfish. Clark had left her unwillingly in order to save her and all she'd done since he'd gotten back was to ignore him.

Getting off the couch, Lois made a new avowal to herself. Things were going to change.

"Where you going?" Chloe inquired as her cousin grabbed her purse from the floor and started toward the doorway.

"The Planet; I've got a story to write," Lois replied, giving her cousin the brightest smile Chloe had seen in five years.

(--)

"Lois, this is fantastic," Perry threw the page back down on his desk and gave Lois a wide grin. "And this picture; this is iconic!" He held up the glossy photo and examined it closer, "Superb, Olsen." Jimmy smiled brightly.

"See, Kent, this is top-notch journalism," Perry nodded at Clark who was grinning widely despite his lack of involvement in Lois' story.

"Yes sir, I agree, Lois is a brilliant journalist," Clark gave Lois a small smile across the room. It was a smile which he saved for her, she knew, and it made her face warm. She didn't return the smile outright, but her eyes twinkled at him; it was something that Clark hadn't seen since he'd returned to Metropolis and he nearly tripped over his own feet when he realized it was directed toward him.

"Lois, we'll put this on the front page of today's edition, I saved the space for you," Perry declared.

"Thanks Chief," Lois replied.

"Dismissed, people," Perry ordered them out of the room, Lois in the lead and Jimmy and Clark following after.

Lois turned on them, smiling, "Who wants to go downstairs and get breakfast?" She glanced between Jimmy and Clark; her eyes met Clark's briefly. It was still difficult to look at him, but she made the conscious effort to look once more. He frowned a little, titling his head at her in a manner that reminded her of the old Smallville.

"That sounds great, Lois," Jimmy agreed.

"Sure," Clark nodded.

"Oh, wait, I have a few more pictures to develop, do you two wanna go down, I'll catch up when I'm done," Jimmy suggested. Lois gave him a half-hearted glare; she knew what he was trying to do. He gave her a bright smile before excusing himself and heading toward the stairs.

"So," Clark began.

"So…" Lois trailed off.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Clark said understandingly.

Lois took a deep breath. It would be so easy to say that she didn't: to go back to ignoring him, pretending they didn't have history, pretending that he didn't mean the world to her; but the information she'd obtained that morning swayed her conscience and she couldn't deny that she wanted her best friend back, even if that was all he was.

"We gotta eat, don't we?" she asked. His face broke into a smile which she returned, her eyes sparkling. It was the look that had kept him connected to the world for the past five years: her smile, her eyes. He couldn't explain her change in attitude toward him. He only assumed that their conversation the night before had somehow helped her to understand his intentions. And yet, he didn't know how that was possible, it hadn't, after all, gone anything like he'd hoped it would.

Still, she took her purse and waited for him to catch up at the elevator. They stepped inside and remained silent for the ride down to the first floor. Lois exited the elevator first and led the way to the restaurant. Clark remembered that he'd been surprised the first time he'd walked into the Daily Planet building and seen a restaurant on the ground floor, it was, however, Metropolis; and although it was no New York or Gotham, Metropolis was a growing cosmopolitan scene.

The hostess seated them at a small round table and gave them menus. Lois held up the pretense of Jimmy joining them and requested a third menu, which the hostess obliged, but Clark had a pretty good feeling that Jimmy had pulled a classic Chloe maneuver and left the pair alone.

When the waitress arrived Lois ordered a coffee and Clark milk, which made Lois smile widely.

"You can take the boy out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy." Her comment sounded so much like the days of taunting between them when Lois had first arrived in Smallville, so many years before.

"Glad to hear you've still got that biting wit," he replied equally. Lois' eyes were wide, as if she hadn't expected him to have a come back and he realized that the Clark Kent these people saw would expect either. She glanced anxiously around the room but no one seemed to notice his drop in persona. Clark wished he didn't have to live under this "identity"; it wasn't him, but it was the only way he could protect people like Lois and Chloe and his mom.

The pair remained in silence until the waitress returned with their drinks. Clark went first, ordering French toast and bacon. Lois took her time ordering a cherry parfait and half a grapefruit. Clark an eyebrow at her health conscience breakfast choice: where were the days when Lois ate like he did? _Five years in the past; Lois is an adult now_, Clark reminded himself and the thought drove him further into silence.

After some time, Lois decided to attempt conversation, "Have you visited your mom, yet?"

Clark blinked at her, his mind backtracking, "Huh? Oh, no, she's still in Washington," Clark answered.

"You've been back for five days and you still haven't gone to see your mom?" Lois was surprised. She recalled how close Clark had been with his parents.

"I haven't had the time," Clark replied cryptically.

"It's not like you have to wait for a connection in Chicago, Clark," Lois hinted, giving him a look.

"I stopped there the other night but she was in a meeting," Clark answered.

"Did you even call her to tell her you were back?" Lois inquired further.

Clark didn't answer but it was enough for his old friend. She shook her head. Clark Kent might be able to withstand a shotgun blast but when Martha Kent found out he'd come back without telling her, well, this breakfast might be the last time Lois saw him with all his appendages.

"So," Clark tried to change the subject, "how long have you and Bruce been together?"

His name struck a twinge of pain in Lois that she'd nearly forgotten. The evening before came flooding back to her but it didn't surprise her that she wasn't as sad as she could have been. She'd been honest, she didn't love Bruce, and she didn't want to hurt him. It was better she knew, that they ended it before he became too wrapped up with something she couldn't give him.

Bruce had been the most understanding person Lois had ever met and though she did not love him in the way he desired, she had felt closer to him than she could have imagined. He was a truly special person and he deserved someone who loved him as much as he loved them. Lois smiled gently: she desperately hoped he found someone like that.

"Lois?" Clark was waiting for her answer.

"Um, we were together for about four years, give or take a few days," Lois replied.

"You _were_ together?" _So_, Lois thought, _he can still pick up on things like that?_ She was mildly impressed although not entirely surprised. Clark Kent had a few more gifts than just super-speed and poor fashion-sense.

"Yeah, we broke up," Lois answered. Though Clark didn't openly show it, Lois thought she saw a light spark behind his clear blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," he offered comfortingly.

Lois waved off the sentiment, "It's not a big deal; we weren't right."

"But four years is a long time," Clark reminded her.

"Yeah, but, while I hate to use this terminology, we were more like friends with benefits, you know, no strings attached," Lois explained. She felt a little awkward explaining this to Clark, who was, after all, the reason it had been no strings attached; it sounded as ridiculous to her as it had, she realized, to everyone else.

Thankfully, the waitress returned to the table with their food, easing the pair out of the awkward conversation about Bruce. Clark grinned when he saw Lois eyeing his plate hungrily, but she decided to ignore it and focus on her grapefruit.

"This is nice," Clark stated after a few minutes. Lois looked up at him and smiled widely, "we should do this more often." Lois' smile faltered a little.

"Clark, I--."

He interrupted her before she could continue, "Lois, I'm not expecting anything."

Lois nodded, "Give it time," she said. Clark brightened slightly. She returned his puppy-dog grin with a calm smile of her own. He was right, this was nice. Her attention, however, was pulled away from Clark's happy face toward the entrance where a frazzled young man was trying to get past the hostess. Clark followed Lois' frown toward the scene.

"Is that Jimmy?" Clark asked. He and Lois glanced at one another before jumping away from the table toward Jimmy.

"You have to let me in there! My friends, I have to talk to--oh, there you are!" Jimmy exclaimed when Lois and Clark walked up.

"Jimmy what's going on?" Lois asked.

"You know this man?" the hostess asked.

"Yes, he's a mental patient spending the day at the Planet," Lois told the hostess.

"I can see that," the hostess replied to Lois' obvious joke.

"Jimmy, are you okay?" Clark asked once Jimmy straightened out his outfit.

"I'm fine, it's Chloe. She just called. She's in labor!" Lois and Clark looked at each other in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Lois questioned.

"I thought you'd want to know," Jimmy replied confused by Lois' hostility.

Lois pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and shook it in front of Jimmy's face. Jimmy looked as if she'd hit him with it before giving her a sheepish smile.

"Okay, let's go," Lois pushed Jimmy and Clark out the door.

(--)

R&R Please!

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I was fighting with writer's block. That is also why this chapter is so short; hopefully, I can push through this bit now that Clark and Lois are back on speaking terms. I hope you enjoy. Also, I want to thank dyslecksec for the review, because it made me realize the Lois was a little inconsistent, for that, I had Chloe inquired about it. Hope that made you a little less troubled about her character. And I hope everyone enjoyed!


	13. Skin and Steel

Disclaimer: I only own the trivial characters.

Previously: "Lois, I'm not expecting anything."

(--)

"Lois Joanne Lane, your cousin goes into labor and you don't call me!?" Lois was tuning out her father's voice over her cell phone. Instead she was focused on Jimmy pacing back and forth across the pastel-colored tiles. Clark was sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs with Rory bouncing on his lap.

The General was yelling something about Lois being the weakest link in the chain and he was very disappointed in her, blah, blah, blah…she'd heard it all before and it held less and less punch each time. Lois had called Lucy who was flying in from Bali on the earliest flight. Next had been Mrs. Kent, a call Lois had been slightly uncomfortable with, knowing that Clark had not contacted his mother upon his return. Uncle Gabriel was next; he was back in Smallville so he wouldn't be there for another couple of hours. The final call, to her father, Lois had purposely avoided. She was hoping the General wouldn't find out until Lois had left the hospital.

And yet, as usual, Lucy had drop the line on Dad, hoping that the General could arrange for free transportation back to the states; Lucy, always attempting to find a way out paying for anything. Lois could only shake her head at her sister anymore: and the General said Lois was the weakest link in the family chain of command.

Jimmy paced a bit more before sitting down beside Clark. After a moment he was back on his feet pacing once more. Lois watched then recalled that her father was still talking in her ear. She mumbled something about having to go before hanging up and walking toward her cousin-in-law.

"Jimmy, relax, everything's fine I'm sure," Lois assured him.

"Yeah, you're right," Jimmy agreed.

They waited in silence again; the only noise was the sound of running feet outside the room and Clark softly humming to Rory who was beginning to doze off on his knee. Lois watched him and smiled. Clark would make a good father, she'd always known it: he'd had a phenomenal example. But she always wondered who he'd end up settling down with in the end.

She'd half expected him to return with another blonde wife in tow. And yet she knew exactly who she wanted him to end up with and that scared her. She had been serious when she told Chloe she didn't want to love him again. She didn't think she could stand losing him. But it was incredibly difficult to fight those feelings as they rushed back to her, clouding her mind, making everything about Clark muddled. She wished things would clear up, but she knew they wouldn't. She had to be strong, push through the clouds, only then could she have her best friend back.

Dr. What's-His-Name (Lois could never remember) walked through the door a moment later, drawing her from her reverie. He wore pale green scrubs and a face mask dangling around his neck. He was smiling widely and it gave Lois an infinite sense of relief.

"Everything went perfectly, Mr. Olsen, Chloe did splendidly," the doctor said. He extended his hand for Jimmy to shake which he did, "Give her a few minutes before you go inside."

He turned and walked out of the room; Chloe would be moved back to her room before they could visit her, but they decided to head up there anyway. Clark heaved Rory into his arms, a small feat for Superman, and followed Lois and Jimmy back downstairs to the post-natal ward.

By the time they arrived in Chloe's room, the blonde and baby were already there getting situated by a few nurses in pink scrubs. Chloe smiled brightly as her husband and friends walked into the room. Her hair was damp but she looked happier than ever before.

The baby in her arms was wrapped in a blue blanket and a nurse was trying to fit a tiny blue hat onto his bald head. When the hat was finally on, Chloe handed her new son over to his father. Lois and Clark huddled around Jimmy and watched the baby yawn widely.

"He's beautiful, Clo," Lois said, looking at her cousin. Chloe nodded, smiling.

"What're you calling him?" Clark asked, shifting a sleeping Rory on his hip.

"Jimmy Jr.?" Lois offered. Chloe laughed and shook her head.

"No, we were thinking Christopher Michael," Chloe replied.

"Interesting, where'd you come up with it?" Clark asked finally moving Rory to a chair so he didn't disturb her.

"Well, my father's middle name is Christopher and Jimmy's dad's name is Michael; we liked the combination," Chloe answered.

"Makes sense," Clark agreed.

"I still think you should have named Rory after me," Lois commented, hands on her hips.

"Next one, Lois, I promise," Chloe stated. Lois gave her a look. Clark laughed slightly and Lois punched his arm. Chloe raised an eyebrow but Lois and Clark were giving each other challenging looks. It seemed they were daring the other to make a comment about it but neither took the plunge.

Instead Lois sat down beside Chloe on the bed and threw her arm around her cousin. The girls set to talking about something or other and Clark focused his attention back on Christopher. The baby was beginning to squirm a little in his father's arms. His shoulders shifted in the blue blanket and Clark found he was mesmerized by the tiny thing.

Jimmy saw Clark's attentive face and offered the baby to him. Clark took the infant in his hands and briefly was afraid of hurting the little boy. But his fears were brushed away when Christopher opened his mouth and yawned again revealing pink, toothless gums which reminded Clark of an old man without his dentures. He held the baby close to his chest and rocked him ever so slightly, watching as the boy drifted into a dream.

Lois smiled watching Clark with the baby. He looked so comfortable; she, on the other hand, always felt like she was going to drop babies. She preferred to touch them when other people were holding them. It was just more proof that she was not cut out to be a mother, even if she secretly wanted to hear someone call her mommy. Chloe poked her in the ribcage and motioned over at Clark. Lois smiled and nodded.

Lois and Clark stayed with Chloe and Jimmy for the rest of the day, greeting visitors like Lucy, the General and Gabriel, before the nurses kicked them out, claiming Chloe needed rest. Jimmy and Rory took a taxi back to their house leaving Lois and Clark to walk along the quickly darkening streets of Metropolis together.

It was barely September, and yet the chill of autumn was apparent in the city and Lois could resist snuggling into her coat. Clark was kicking his shoes against the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets, and Lois recalled a night, long ago, when they had walked together like this. The memory sent an unwelcome tingle up her spine and wished she hadn't remembered.

It was things like this: memories that made her miss the old days; made her miss Clark even though he was walking right beside her. She took a deep breath and slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. He glanced down at it, then quickly a Lois, but she just looked at him. His lips seemed to twitch into a smile but he didn't say anything.

This was better, she thought. It wasn't romantic, necessarily, just two friends walking together. This was them. This was what she had missed these last years. And the realization that she could get it back, if only she took the chance, the leap of faith, made the big gesture.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to take the chance yet; she didn't want to get hurt again, but she was glad that she could, when she was ready; and she knew that Clark would wait. He'd been waiting after all. Yeah, he'd wait until she was ready to move. He'd waited for the rest of his life if he had to.

The thought reassured her and she huddled closed to Clark's arm as they walked in the dusk, oblivious to everyone else on the street.

(--)

Senator Martha Kent stared through the tinted windows of the limousine. It was clear that she didn't want to be there, but she held her head high and wore an honest smile across her face. Her assistant handed her a copy of her speech but Martha didn't look at it. She'd read the speech several times already in her hotel room and although she was passionate about the topic, Martha couldn't bring herself to read the words again.

Hannah, her assistant, asked her if she was feeling all right. Martha brushed it off. Hannah was new and she didn't yet understand Martha's dislike of this particular city; which was understandable: Martha was after all born in Metropolis. But the cold stone and steel reminded her too much of Clark and Jonathon.

As the familiar Luther Corp building passed, Martha looked away from the window. She couldn't stomach the thought of Lex sitting up in his comfortable watching while the city crumbled beneath his stony glare. Often Martha felt like she was fighting a losing battle against him, her attempts to save the city seemingly useless against Lex's iron grip.

As the car pulled up to the rear of the podium, Martha took a deep breath. She waited until her body guards opened the door for her. In the past, she would have been insulted that these men treated her like a fragile porcelain doll, but over the past few years in the unseemly world of politics, Martha had succumbed to their constant protection.

Hannah followed behind her, reading off a list of things that Martha hadn't forgotten since she'd read them ten minutes before. Martha straightened her red suit, brushing the wrinkles away. Mayor Jacobs greeted her with a handshake and a compliment she could see right through. He told her he'd been the one introducing her before the public and press in a few moments, as soon as security was completely in place.

Martha walked to the edge of the curtain with him. He waited for the signal before stepping out onto the platform to a loud applause from the audience. Martha rolled her eyes in true Lois fashion, and the thought made her smile. Mayor Jacobs gave some spiel about Martha's reforms in Star City and such. The Senator cringed before stepping into view to a wild applause. She waved and stood tall at the podium.

"Hello, everyone," Martha began, "Let me begin with how happy I am to finally be back in this great city." She had to pause because people were clapping again.

"Although, I live in Washington, I still feel Kansas is my home; unfortunately, it's a home that I feel is crumbling, slowly dying under the grip of men like Lex Luther. Not anymore; today we can take back our city, today we can-."

The bullet missed her head by less than an inch. She felt a body crash into her back throwing her to the ground. Her head swam as it connected solidly with metal of the platform. She heard more bullets riddling the curtain behind, but when she looked up there was only a man, wearing a strange suit, hands on hips, as bullets slammed into his chest. He flew off the platform and marched through the screaming crowd toward the man with the gun.

The man was beginning to panic; he threw the gun aside before pulling a packet out of his jacket. Before Superman realized what was happening the man swallowed the contents and disappeared in a flash of white light. Superman reached for his hand, gripping it for a moment before it was gone too.

He scanned the area but the attempted assassin was gone. Anger flashed across his eyes and he remembered his mother back on the platform. He flew back to her just as her bodyguard was getting to his feet. Superman extended his hand to Martha. She looked up at him and gasped.

"You're going to be all right, Senator," he said. His voice brought tears to her eyes as he helped her to her feet. The body guards were rushing around them but Martha saw nothing but the handsome face of her son.

"Thank you," she whispered. He nodded before raising his arm above his head and flying off the ground. Martha watched him go, her eyes glued to her son as he disappeared into the night.

"Senator Kent," one of the security staff approached her, rubbing his arm, "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," Martha replied.

"We need to get you to a hospital, Senator," he stated. Martha nodded, _protocol_, she knew how it worked. She let the man lead her back to the car. Hannah was already inside, a frightened look on her face. Martha indulged the girl's questions about her safety but felt herself paying little attention: her son had finally come home.

(--)

"Lois, I'm fine," Martha brushed Lois' hand away from the bandage on her forehead. The young woman was there to question the Senator about the events of the night, and about being rescued by Superman. That was the assignment. Of course Lois would have come anyway when she heard about Mrs. Kent being shot at.

"That's what they say, Mrs. K. and then you drop down dead from internal bleeding," Lois stated.

"Thank you for that relaxing sentiment, Lois, but I really am okay," Martha replied, giving Lois a look of maternal wisdom.

"Whatever you say, Senator," Lois surrendered, "Where the hell is Clark? He should be here by now."

"Maybe someone needed his help," Martha suggested.

"Or maybe your suits wouldn't let him in," Lois retorted giving the security personnel at the door an icy look. They had blocked her way when she'd arrived too; it was only after Lois had called Martha's cell phone and spoken to Hannah that they had let her in.

"Lois," Martha's tone was warning but she was smiling at Lois' brassy personality, still intact even after everything she'd been through.

Finally, the door swung open and Clark entered the room. He hurried to Martha's side as she sat up right on the edge of the bed. He hugged his mother tightly, giving every apology into the embrace. He'd left her as much as he'd left Lois and he felt just as bad about it.

"I'll leave you two alone to catch up," Lois said, giving Clark and Martha a soft smile. She was halfway to the door before Clark's voice stopped her.

"No, Lois, stay, please; you _are_ family." Clark always had a way of getting her to do exactly what he wanted. She turned on her heel, gave him a sharp glare, but obeyed anyway and walked back to Martha's side.

"Mom, are you sure you're okay?" Clark inquired, eyeing her bandage skeptically.

"Don't bother, Clark, I've been trying that for an hour, which, by the way, why weren't you here for that?" Lois asked, turning on him, her hand on her hip.

"I was looking for clues," Clark answered defensively. Lois seemed to think that was appropriate enough.

"Don't worry, Mrs. K. I'm sure whoever tried to kill you won't try again, especially now that they know Superman's protecting you," Lois assured the older woman. Martha gave the pair a small smile.

"Well, I would hope he'd protect me," she gave Clark a look. He blushed slightly under his mother's proud stare. He glanced at Lois but she was gazing at him the same way. They were both proud of the man he'd become.

"Senator, the doctor's have given the okay," one of the security officers said. Martha nodded and looked at the kids.

"Back to work," she joked, her face less than enthusiastic about the prospect. She slipped past Lois and her son.

"I'll call you later, Mrs. K," Lois called. Martha turned back to them. They were standing side-by-side wearing identical looks on their faces. She smiled widely then embraced first Lois and Clark for slightly longer.

"We'll have dinner," she said to them.

"Senator Kent," the body guard motioned to the door, "we have to leave before the press gets here."

"Yes, I know," she replied, harsher than she'd intended, "I missed you so much, Clark," she embraced him again. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

"Go ahead, Mrs. K," Lois urged gently, touching her arm.

Martha nodded.

"We'll miss our flight Senator," the body guard stated gruffly.

"Give her a minute, pal, she hasn't seen her son in five years!" Lois snapped. Martha placed a soft hand on Lois' arm and the brunette cooled.

"He's right, I've got to go; but I'm almost done with this tour. We'll have dinner at the house next week, okay?" Martha suggested.

"Sure, Mom, go on; you don't want to be late," Clark said. He hugged his mother once more before letting her be directed out the door. Lois turned to him, ambition burning in her eyes.

"We've got to figure who's behind this," she said. Clark agreed with most of her statement, just not the 'we' part, and he said so, which he should have known would be a mistake, but apparently he still hadn't learned.

"Excuse me, Clark, Martha Kent is as much a mother to me as she is to you; and I am not going to sit back and bite my nails while you go get yourself into trouble!"

"Lois, you're usually the one in trouble; besides, this isn't some story you can chase down for the headline," Clark replied.

"Really, Clark, I hadn't noticed. But in case you've forgotten, you've been out of the game for a few years now, a game which I happen to be famously good at, and someone just tried to kill your mother. Now if you think you can do this by yourself, by all means, go ahead; but don't come crying to me when you don't find anything," Lois announced. She turned on her heel and stalked away from him, fury in her step.

"Lois." She stopped. "I'm sorry, you're right, I could use your help." She turned on him: a wide smile on her face, her eyes wicked.

"But I want you to be careful; I don't want anything to happen to you," he said.

"Don't worry, Clark; I know my way around the city," Lois replied.

"Promise you'll let me handle the dangerous stuff," he begged, holding onto her upper arms. Lois found herself falling into his eyes, those blue eyes that she'd always loved. Those blue eyes that had caught her attention the first night she'd met him.

"I promise," Lois agreed.

"Thank you."

(--)

TBC...

R&R please! Another short chapter, I'm sorry... : (


	14. Take Out and Interrogations

(--)

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, in the comics or in the films (basically the trivial characters you don't recognize).

Previously: He'd wait until she was ready to move. He'd wait for the rest of his life if he had to.

(--)

Lex Luther looked over the morning's papers: another story about Superman caught his eye. _Reported by Lois Lane_, he read silently. He couldn't suppress the grin that slipped across his face. Lois Lane had definitely impressed him: going from sarcastic college dropout to insightful Daily Planet journalist in only a few short years.

A flash from a few years before, when Lois had just barely begun her career as a journalist: a time when the woman didn't seem to understand the politics of the world she was getting into. Justice was not always as it seemed in the world of men like Lex. And she'd nearly lost her life for her naiveté.

He tossed the Daily Planet aside and hefted the stack of tabloids from his desktop. The covers were decorated with pictures of Lana and his children. He'd already contacted the Inquisitor about having pictures of Alexander and Lilly but they had apparently not heeded his warning.

It hurt his head and his heart to see his children being paraded around the city like the prized show horses he'd bought for Lana on their one year anniversary. She used to love to take Alexander out to the stables and ride with him across the Luther grounds. Lex slammed his fist against the paper.

"I'd watch that temper if I were you, Mr. Luther," came a voice from the shadowy corner of Lex's office. Lex could only see the faint flutter of something in the darkness. He subtly pressed the button under his desk, alerting his security guards of the intruder before speaking.

"Who are you? How did you did you get in here?" The volume of Lex's voice rose as he got to his feet.

Suddenly, a gust of wind burst through the room, and the voice was behind him, "Some many questions, Mr. Luther." The tone was mocking, like a cat teasing a captured mouse before making the kill. It was a tone which Lex was all too familiar with, he liked to use it on some of his less-open-minded business partners.

"What do you want?" Lex asked.

Another burst of wind, and the voice moved to his right, "Answers."

"About what?" Lex nearly yelled. His eyes darted around as he slipped his gun from the arm rest of his chair.

"Senator Kent."

"What about Martha Kent?" Lex asked he cocked the gun as quietly as he could.

"Why did you try to have her killed Lex?" the voice asked, suddenly angry.

"I swear to you, I had nothing to do with that; you have to understand, Martha Kent deals with a lot of unsavory people in her line of work--." Lex was cut off by a force being thrown against his back, heaving him forward so he collided with the top of his desk. The intruder held him there, pined against the newspapers, his cheek pressing against the cold mahogany.

"You can't hide from me, Lex," the voice whispered menacingly, "I am justice."

Suddenly, as soon as it arrived, the voice and pressure on Lex's back disappeared. He stood up and hurried to the open window, but the light of sun barred him from being able to see anything. He spun around as four men with gun burst into the office.

"Fantastic timing, gentlemen;" Lex snapped coolly.

Leaving his former security staff staring after him, Lex left the comforts of his office with the voice floating around his brain. He'd been threatened before mostly by his father, but Lex had a strange feeling that who ever it was had the potential to be a very serious problem. And there was only one way Lex knew how to deal with problems.

He looked back at the security guards, still looking after him, "Find out who the hell broke into my office!" He shouted.

Lex Luther would not be beaten.

(--)

Lois held onto Rory's hand as they dashed through the long grass of the Metropolis Central Park. Chloe was sitting nearby with baby Chris on the blanket in from of her. The four were celebrating their Saturday and Lois first day off in months with a picnic in the park. Chloe had packed a splendid lunch for them and was beginning to set it out while Lois kept Rory occupied.

Jimmy had planned to stop by once he finished developing the photos from the latest Breast Cancer Awareness Rally, unfortunately, Cat Grant, had decided last minute that her story about Senator Moore's affair with a stripper desperately needed pictures; so the horrible woman had dragged him away, hoping to catch the Senator in the act.

Lois felt queasy for her poor friend; Cat Grant was as her name implied: a woman whose claws were sharper than any other feline. As the brunette lead Rory back to her mother and the waiting picnic, she felt something tense up in her chest. It was a familiar feeling: she was being watched. She scanned the park, but the relative crowdedness of the beautiful day made it impossible for her to determine whether anyone was paying special attention to them.

Lois and Rory reached the blanket and Lois masked her uneasiness with a bright smile and tickled the baby who was lying on his back on the checkered blanket. Christopher laughed and Lois smiled wider. No, she wasn't the motherly type, but she didn't mind enjoying Chloe's desire to mass produce.

She crossed her legs and opened Chloe's wicker picnic basket. The blonde had certainly turned into Martha Stewart over the years. There was peanut butter and jelly from Lois and Rory and turkey for Chloe. There was a bottle in a travel heating pack, stored in the corner of the basket alongside two waters and a juice box.

Lois handed Rory and Chloe their food before removing her own and setting the basket aside. It was a beautiful day, Lois couldn't deny that, but she did wish that Clark was there. He would have appreciated the warm sunlight and fresh crisp air more than any of them. Lois might not have had a day off in the two months since Mrs. Kent was attacked, but Clark hadn't even slept since the traumatic evening.

He spent all of time either looking through thousands of files at Planet or checking out possible leads as Superman. It was clearly taking a toll on him, even for a man who didn't actually need sleep. Lois was beginning to see dark circles form under her friend's eyes and she was worrying that he was overworking himself. Not that she blamed him: she'd been putting in plenty more than full-time over the last couple of months.

This was Martha Kent they were talking about. People called her the Mother of Kansas. She was revered and even more so by her son and his friends. Even Chloe was dedicating her free moments to hack into the police department's mainframes to determine if there was anything Lois and Clark could use to help their investigation. So far the police had even less than nothing and Chloe was doing all that she could with the limited resources of her home office.

So today, was a break for all of them; Lois had invited Clark but he had rejected her, saying he was going to talk to someone or another about something pertaining to the case. Lois had watched sadly as he walked away from her. But she knew that he was trying to protect his mother and she couldn't begrudge him for that.

Still, she missed him. They had finally made some strides in their relationship: they now ate nearly every meal together, including take-out over reports almost every night. Lois laughed because although Martha Kent was the most brilliant cook ever, Clark had clearly not inherited his mother's skill. Sure, he was definitely more accomplished in the kitchen than Lois was but they couldn't live off pancakes and bacon forever.

So as she sat on the blanket next to her cousin, Lois was trying to determine what to get for dinner that night. She figured Clark would probably being spending the night at the office, so she thought maybe surprising him with Chinese would be a good idea.

"You're smiling like a fool," Chloe commented laughing at her cousin, who did indeed had a wide smile plastered across her face, "Thinking about Clark?"

"Ha-ha, actually yes, but just about what to bring him for dinner," Lois replied.

"You guys are so cute," Chloe giggled, taking hold of Chris' tiny hand.

"Chloe, we're just friends," Lois warned against her cousin's hopeful look. Honestly, Lois did wish that she could say otherwise when people brought up her relationship to Clark.

She was starting to feel like things were on a permanent pause between them and although things had gotten a hundred and fifty percent better between them, she felt like he was holding her at arm's length. She knew that he believed it was what she wanted, and it had been; she'd made that perfectly clear. But she couldn't help wanting what she'd lost.

She couldn't help it that every time she looked at Clark she wanted him more. She wanted him to hold her like he once had. Sure they were closer than they had been in five years but it was nothing like before the storm. Nothing like before he left. She wanted that back. She wanted it more than anything.

But she felt bad about it. She'd made it clear to Clark that she wasn't ready two months ago when they'd first had breakfast. It would be unfair to suddenly demand more from him now. So she'd wait. She would relish being his friend and that would have to do.

Now it was her turn to wait.

(--)

Clark stretched his sore arms, shaking the discomfort from his shoulders before allowing his gaze to return to police report which Chloe had emailed him. He had read over it several times already but he was hoping to find something he'd missed, something that would help.

Unfortunately for him, there was nothing which the police knew that he didn't. He couldn't help feeling like he was failing his mother, the woman who had raised him, given him everything, and all he'd ever done, it seemed, was fail her. Running away, disappearing, not being able to protect her…it pained him to think about it.

He scanned the report once last time before tossing it aside and picking up the Planet's file on Lex Luther. Again it contained nothing that Clark didn't already know. Although he was surprised when he'd read that Lana had left him. He made a mental note to go and see her before he got too caught up in things. She was still his friend after all.

He threw the folder down with a frustrated huff. He was getting nowhere and it was beginning to take a toll on him. Not only was he only sleeping for brief periods of time, but he could feel Lois drifting away again.

They were so close, getting things back in order between them, but his obsession with his mother's attacker was draining them. He could see it in her eyes whenever she looked at him. She was worried; worried he would never let this go. And maybe she was right. Maybe he just had to leave it alone, wait for something to appear instead of searching it out. That had been Perry's advice.

Of course, the new editor had been biased: although he was very fond of Martha Kent, and he understood Lois and Clark's attachment and determination to the case, he missed his star reporters. Lois' Superman articles were bland, emotionless and Clark's work was pathetic, to say the least. Perry had stuck him doing film and music reviews because of the lacking quality Martha's case had procured.

Clark understood the man's frustration. For the first month after the incident Lois and Clark had still been strong in their writing; it was the adrenaline, the thirst for information, the desire to work together once more, but after time went by, after months without any leads, the pair had started falling apart again; and Clark knew it was his fault. It was his obsession that was driving a wedge between him and Lois.

But he couldn't stop. If Lois was going to leave too then his mother would be the only person he had left; he _wouldn't_ stop, not until he had answers.

"You know you look at that for too long, you're gonna go cross-eyed," said a familiar voice from over Clark's shoulder. He turned to see Lois standing behind him, wrapped in a warm coat, a red scarf wrapped around her neck. She was carrying her purse in one hand and brown paper bag in the other.

"How was your picnic?" he asked, turning away from her again.

"It was nice, you should have come," Lois replied.

"I told you had I to follow up a lead," Clark responded, harsher than he had intended to, but Lois wasn't fazed by his antagonistic tone.

Instead, she pulled her chair around to his desk and sat beside him. She placed the brown bag on top of the papers he was reading which earned her an angry look from her partner.

"Lois!" Clark snapped.

"Clark, you've been reading the same thing for three days now; it's time to take a break," Lois ordered. She pulled from the bag three containers and two egg rolls. She passed one to Clark, handing him the plastic fork she grabbed (he was dangerous with chopsticks she had learned and since she valued her eyes, he got the fork) while she opened her container of roast pork lo mein and started eating away.

Clark stared at her, as always he was impressed by her boldness and felt his anger ebb away. Sighed, giving into her demands, and opened his own container. She'd gotten him General Tso's chicken, his favorite. It amazed how well she knew exactly what he needed, when he needed it. She gave him a wide smile, as if she knew what he was thinking, which he returned before stabbing a piece of chicken and settling back in his chair.

(--)

After finishing his meal and what was left of Lois', Clark was finally full. Lois was leaning backwards in her chair, watching him gather the napkins and used chopsticks and tossing them into the trash can beside his desk. He felt her eyes on him on he completed the mediocre task and turned to face her. Her expression did not change, she was still grinning at him.

"What?" he asked. Lois' hands were laced and resting on her stomach as she watched him.

"Nothing," she replied nonchalantly.

"You sure?" he asked again.

"Yup."

"So there's no reason why you're staring at me?" Clark asked, giving her a frown.

Lois shrugged, "Nope."

"Well, could you stop? You're kind of freaking me out," Clark commented raising his eyebrows at Lois.

"You're mom wants us to spend Thanksgiving at the farm," Lois stated. Clark nodded, leaning back.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

"It'll be fun," Lois replied.

"Yeah," he agreed, "but we, well we haven't been back there since…"

"It's Thanksgiving, Clark, it's your mom's or mine; not a difficult choice," Lois joked, lighting Clark's face, easing the tension between his eyebrows as she let the past drift away from them.

"So we're going?" Clark reaffirmed.

"Yeah," Lois nodded.

They sat in companionable silence once more. Lois was still watching him, her eyes intense and yet soft. Clark felt self-conscious under her stare: he knew what she was thinking. He knew that she was trying to get him to talk to her, open up to her. She wanted to tell him to ease up on the search for his mother's attacker.

He decided to preempt her, "Lois, I don't want to talk about it."

"Talk about what, Clark?" Lois asked innocently.

"I'm going to find out who tried to kill my mother," Clark replied coolly.

"I know," Lois nodded.

"And don't try to tell me that I'm working too hard, and I'm being obsessive and everything because I know it all," Clark continued.

"That's good," Lois leaned forward in the chair, "and yet you continue?"

"Lois," he warned.

"I'm not talking about it; I'm just questioning your statement. If you know these things, why do you still do them?" Lois questioned.

"She's my mother, Lois, I'm not going to stop until I find him," Clark answered.

"Clark, it's been months, we haven't found anything," Lois began, "Maybe we should listen to Perry: back off and wait for something to come up."

"Do nothing?" Clark frowned at his partner.

"Clark, driving ourselves into exhaustion is clearly not helping; we need a new approach," Lois explained, "besides, we wouldn't be doing nothing; we would keep our ears and eyes open for any leads, but we do have jobs we need to keep. I don't know about you but I worked too hard to get to the Planet to throw it all away because I wouldn't relax on a case."

"This isn't just some 'case', Lois, this is my mother," Clark snapped.

"And you're not the only who cares about her, Clark," Lois retorted; she sighed angrily: there was no point getting into an argument with Clark…again. He was a stubborn as she was and it would only lead to them ignoring each other for a few days and getting even less done than when they were talking.

"Fine," Lois threw up her hands and leaned back into her chair once more, "let's just spend Thanksgiving with your mom, take a break from the story, maybe things will start to unfold then," she suggested.

Clark couldn't deny that he desperately needed a break: a break from work, a break from Superman, from the search for his mother's attempted assassin. He needed a break from everything. He just needed to spend some time back on the farm; he only hoped that it brought him the same comfort that it used too.

"Okay, we'll spend Thanksgiving with my mom at the Farm," Clark concurred.

"And…" Lois waited for Clark to continue.

"And…we'll take a break from the story," Clark finished.

"Thank you," Lois said, satisfied. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled smugly. Clark rolled his eyes.

(--)

A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying this story! Review if you do!


	15. Turkey Time

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, in the comics or in the films (basically, the trivial characters).

Previously: "Clark, it's been months, we haven't found anything…" "Okay, we'll spend Thanksgiving with my mom at the Farm."

(--)

There was a warm glow in the air as Lois and Clark pulled up to the Kent Farm on Thanksgiving. Clark paid the cab driver the ridiculous sum of money that it had cost them to travel from Metropolis to Smallville; he gave Lois a dagger-filled glare as he handed over the forty-five dollars to the driver. Clark had offered to just fly them out to Smallville but Lois had been completely against it.

Clark could tell that she was completely comfortable with flying. He imagined that it had something to do with the fact that the first time she'd flown with had been after she'd been pushed off a building. Still, he didn't understand her abject disinterest in flying at all. He thought it was a rather efficient way of travel.

And yet, after an hour of arguing over it, Lois had won and they'd taken a cab: a cab which Clark, of course, had been left paying for.

When he turned away from the cab driver, he found Lois was walking toward the house very slowly. Instead, she was gazing around her: at the barn, at the yellow farmhouse, at the cows in the distant pastures, at the tractor, left rusting and broken from five years without use. The bottle of wine she'd brought was dangling from her hand as she surveyed the place that had been her home. Clark watched as she sighed and smiled.

An excited barking caught his and Lois' attention. Lois looked to the front door as a golden retriever burst through it and bounded down the stairs directly at her. Instead of running to Clark for protection, she threw him the bottle of wine (relying on his ability to catch) and held out her arms to embrace the dog. He leapt into her arms and knocked her to the ground, covering her face in kisses.

Clark laughed as he heard Lois' half-hearted begging for the dog to get off. When Shelby finally let her sit up, Lois' hair was a disaster, and she had dirt clinging to her face and neck, but she was smiling widely. She hugged the dog around the neck and kissed the top of his nose. Then she sneezed.

Clark walked over to her side and helped her to her feet. She brushed off her coat and took the wine back from him. With Shelby tagging along after them, Clark and Lois took the few paces into the house. Martha was in the kitchen, checking the turkey which was still cooking in the oven.

Chloe was uncovering a bowl of mashed potatoes while Jimmy, holding baby Chris, was attempting to stay away from Rory who was chasing him around the house. Lois laughed when she saw him being pursued by his screaming four-year-old. When Rory saw Lois and Clark, however, she forgot about her father and ran at her new toy. Clark lifted her into the air as she threw herself at him.

Rory stretched her arms above her head and pretended to fly as Clark swooped with her around the kitchen. Lois and Chloe laughed as Martha shook her head, a grin decorating her face.

"Clark," Martha warned.

"Hi Mom." He kissed her on the cheek.

"Out of the kitchen, please," Martha waved he and Rory from the room.

"Oh, Clo, Chris needs his diaper changed," Jimmy announced.

"That was appetizing, thanks Jimmy," Lois commented.

"Sorry, Lois," Jimmy replied sheepishly.

"Uh, the diaper bag is on the couch," Chloe said pointing to the teal bag sitting next on top of the pillows. Jimmy nodded and walked over, taking the bag, he headed upstairs.

Lois embraced her cousin and set the bottle of wine down on the counter. Chloe frowned at her slightly when she saw her cousin's appearance: Lois was mussed and mud was flecked over her cheeks.

"What happened to you?" Chloe asked.

"Shelby," Lois replied; Martha handed her a damp towel and Lois wiped the dirt and grass from her face. She threaded her fingers through her hair, attempting to work through the knots. Satisfied that she wasn't going to look any better, Lois rinsed out the towel and set it near the sink.

"Oh, Lois, this is expensive wine," Martha examined the bottle and gave Lois a surprised look.

"Oh, no, it's nothing; it was either that or bring another burnt pie," Lois shrugged with a bright smile.

"Ugh, remind me not to have children," Clark said reentering the room, with Rory on his hip.

"Tell me about it," Chloe laughed.

"It looks like he might need some help in there," Clark jabbed his thumb over his shoulder into the living room.

Chloe handed Lois the spoon she'd been mashing the squash with and started into the other, "You'd think on the second kid he'd be able to handle it by now."

Clark laughed slightly moving further into the kitchen. He let Rory roll off his hip and onto the floor. She crawled over to Shelby who was waiting beside Lois' feet, hoping for some crumbs to just fall his way. Seeing this, Rory crouched beside him and waited with him, staring up at Lois.

Clark cleared his throat, getting Lois' attention, and nodded at the little girl. Lois smiled down at Rory and Shelby. She tossed a chunk of squash to the dog and pulled a cookie off the nearby plate; she knelt down beside Rory and whispered to the girl.

"Now, no telling Mommy, about this, got it?" Lois handed her the cookie.

"You're worse than I am," Martha laughed, watching Lois and Rory, "Of course I would like my own grandchildren to spoil." She gave Clark a pointed look. He gulped and glanced nervously at Lois.

"Don't look at me, Smallville," Lois said nonchalantly, but it made Clark freeze. She frowned at him but quickly realized what had shocked him. She'd called him 'Smallville' for the first time since he'd returned. It had rolled off her tongue as easily as it once had. She smiled faintly: it seemed appropriate that the first time was here, at the farm, where it had all begun.

The three stood in tense silence, before Jimmy burst into the room.

"He peed on me!" the young man exclaimed. Laughter broke then tense atmosphere in the room and Martha became a mother again. She walked over to Jimmy and led him to the bathroom, assuring him that he could borrow one of Clark's shirts.

Chloe followed Jimmy's path into the kitchen, far calmer, carrying a freshly changed baby Chris. Rory immediately ran to her mother's side and tugged on Chloe's dress.

Chloe looked down at her daughter. The little girl's face was covered in chocolate. Chloe handed Chris to Clark and bent down to wipe her daughter's face off.

"Rory, what happened to you? What are you covered in?"

"Auntie Lois gave me a cookie," Rory explained.

"Oh, she did, huh?" Chloe looked at Lois. The brunette glared at the little girl.

"Traitor," she said then shrugged at her cousin.

"Is anyone else coming, Mom?" Clark asked as his mother came back into the kitchen.

"No, I'm afraid it's just us this year," Martha replied.

"That's all right, Mrs. K," Lois said, "it's just family then."

Clark gave Lois a warm smile which she returned brightly. Even with her hair out of place and faint traces of dirt remnants on her face, Lois was the most beautiful woman Clark had ever seen. Her burgundy dress complimented her dark hair and hazel eyes. She wore a simple silver necklace and sterling silver hoops which set off her graceful features, but it was her smile that drew his attention: the smile that would light up her eyes and make her entire face even more beautiful than ever.

"Clark," Martha was giving him a knowing look, "will you help take the turkey out of the oven?" Clark looked at his mother, a little surprised, as if he'd forgotten she was still there, before nodding at her. Lois stifled a laugh as she took the stack of turkey and autumn leaf decorated napkins into the dining room.

Chloe followed behind her, cooing softly to Christopher. Lois was setting out the napkins, pointedly ignoring Chloe and the wide smile Lois knew was plastered on her face. Finally, she couldn't take her cousin's humming and turned on her.

"What?" Lois inquired.

"Nothing," Chloe shrugged.

"Nothing, huh?" Lois nodded in false belief.

"Nothing," Chloe assured. Lois nodded again before setting back to her task with the napkins.

"You two looked comfortable," Chloe commented. Lois whirled on her.

"I knew there was something!" Lois accused pointing her index finger in Chloe's face. Chloe merely laughed.

"Well, you do!"

"We are just friends," Lois repeated.

"Well friends don't look at each other the way you two were in there," Chloe replied.

"Clo, I swear--," Lois waved her finger at Chloe.

"Lois if you love him, do something about it; waiting around for Clark to make a move is like watching paint dry, it's going to take forever," Chloe urged.

Lois gave her cousin a look but didn't respond. Maybe she should do something about it, after all, Chloe was right, waiting around for Clark always proved to be exhausting. But Lois was still unsure of herself around him. He was the same Clark that she'd known years before and yet infinitely different. She had since decided that Clark was actually three different people:

There was Clark, Daily Planet reporter; bumbling dope who tripped over everything, including thin air; who wore over-sized glasses and rarely disagreed with her. The man the world saw.

There was Superman, the world's newest and greatest superhero. The alien from a distant planet who had arrived in Metropolis to protect the innocent. The man who wore primary colors and stood for truth, justice and freedom. The man people looked up to.

And then there was _her_ Clark, farm boy who had a strange addiction to plaid; who had never seen 'The Godfather'; who had kissed her in a barn and promised to marry her in five years. The man she had left standing in the rain. The man who had never really come home.

And while she missed the Clark who she'd watched disappear into a storm, she was beginning to fall for this mixture of Superman and Clark Kent she saw when no one else was looking. The man who she saw now, at his home. She could love him.

(--)

Lois helped Martha wash dishes after dinner. Chloe was trying to put Christopher to sleep but the precocious baby boy wouldn't have it. He was too busy exploring the Kent farmhouse. Jimmy and Rory had both dozed off on the couch, a Met-U football game playing on the television.

Clark had disappeared but Lois had pretty good idea where he'd gone. As she handed Martha the last plate, she dried her hands on the dish towel and grabbed her coat from the hook near the door. Wrapping her scarf around her neck and slipping her gloves on, she started out the door and toward the barn.

Martha watched the young woman from the window. She smiled sadly. She wished that the two of them would just forget about the past and be happy together but the Senator knew that it was a lot to ask for. Clark still felt guilty for leaving and though it seemed Lois had forgiven him, it was clear from her uneasiness in the house that she had not forgotten what had taken place the last time she'd been here.

Martha continued to watch until Lois stepped inside the barn. It was then that her attention was drawn by a crying baby in the other room and Martha hurried off to help Chloe before Rory woke up too.

Lois slipped inside the barn and felt that the temperature had not changed from the outside chill despite the lack of a breeze. She snuggled further into her coat, as she stepped gingerly onto the wooden stairs and climbed up to the loft.

Just as she had suspected, Clark was standing by the window, staring out into the clear night. She knew he had heard her so she didn't bother saying anything. She merely walked up to his side and slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. He glanced down at her gloved hand then up at her face. She smiled gently at him.

He returned the smile and placed his other hand atop her gloved one, feeling the heat radiating through the knit. She met his eyes for a moment before gazing out at the bright night. The stars were peaking through the inky black sky like pin points. Lois wondered which one was Krypton.

Clark sighed deeply and Lois looked back to him, a frown creasing between her eyebrows. But Clark wasn't looking at her; his gaze was focused where hers had been: out at the night sky. She watched him, his profile distinct against the blackness. He glanced at her.

"Come with me, Lois," he spoke suddenly, fiercely.

"Where?" she asked; his tone was slightly frightening.

"Up there," he pointed to the sky. She gave him a skeptical look and gulped. She wasn't very excited about flying without a floor beneath her feet. But she could see from the look in his eyes that it was something he wanted, something he needed to do.

"Okay," she nodded slowly. He turned fully to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She hugged herself close to him, resting her cheek to his chest, as she felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. She closed her eyes as she felt them lift away from the barn, from the farm, from the world.

She cracked her eyes open slightly and inhaled sharply. She could see all of Smallville; each farmhouse illuminated; the town's center bright; it was breathtaking. She looked up at Clark; he was staring down at her, smiling serenely.

"It's beautiful," she breathed. He nodded but didn't speak. They sped over the vast farms and corn fields, and soon enough they were back over Metropolis; the many lights of the city making even the atmosphere seem like it was glowing of itself.

Quickly they moved past the city, rising higher in the air, Clark looked down at her, "Hold on."

Lois nodded and gripped Clark tighter. They suddenly rocketed forward. Lois felt the air become colder and her body started to shake. She looked below her but there was only darkness. Wherever they were there were no cities or towns to light up the ground. She felt Clark hold onto her tighter as they moved swiftly through the thin night air.

Lois suddenly saw something bright on the distant horizon: it look liked a man-made structure, and that seemed to be their destination. The place was beautiful in a cold and frozen sort of way. Clark hovered over the top of it, setting them down into the snow covered floor gently. Lois suddenly realized that this was Clark's Fortress of Solitude: the place he'd spent the last five years.

She let go of him and stared at the crystal palace that surrounded her. It was even more beautiful than she had first thought. The crystals that made that building were massive and frost covered. She brushed her gloved hand across the closest one and saw her reflection shining back at her. She turned back to Clark: he was standing in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets, watching her.

"Clark," she breathed.

"I just wanted you to see it," he replied.

"It's beautiful," she said; the air here was frosty and she was starting to have trouble feeling her fingers.

"We can't stay long; it's too cold for you up here," he stated, sensing that her body temperature had dropped already.

"Just a little longer," she turned away from him again, exploring the frozen palace. Her gaze settled on a crystal panel with separate crystals emerging from it. She walked over to it, reaching out a single hand. Clark was at her side, surprising her.

"I want you to meet my mother," he said softly. He turned one of the crystals and Lois gasped as a holograph appeared just behind the panel. The woman standing there was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. Her blonde hair settled in soft curls just past her shoulders. She was holding a baby covered in a silvery blanket who Lois assumed was an infant Clark.

"She's gorgeous, Clark," Lois whispered, slipping her arm into the crook of elbow again. He nodded at her, and watched as the holograph sang silently to the fussy baby boy in her arms. _He was stubborn then too_, Lois thought with a smile. She squeezed Clark's arm tightly.

He looked down at her. Her lips were starting to take on a bluish tint and although he wanted to stay with Lois and watch his mother's picture, he knew that Lois would be a popsicle if they didn't leave soon. He turned the crystal back and the holograph faded away. Lois let him wrap his arms around her tightly before she felt the ground slip away again.

(--)

They landed gently near the barn. Lois' feet touched down in the dirt and she let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding: apparently flying still kind of freaked her out. Clark looked down at her, his gaze gentle.

His blue eyes were soaking her in and she felt herself start to drown in crystal color she'd always loved so much. She smiled up at him, sentiment which he returned. She bit on the edge of lip, hoping that Clark would do something.

To her surprise, he began to lean slowly toward her. She swallowed: she'd been waiting for him to kiss her for months and now he was finally going to. He was close enough to feel his breath tickling her face.

When he kissed her, she felt everything else fall away. She tightened her grip on his forearms as he pulled her closer to him. Her head was beginning to swim as the kiss intensified. His hand left her waist and threaded through her hair, pulling her mouth deeper into his. She drank in the taste of him, a taste she'd missed so much but had not forgotten.

Suddenly her euphoria was ripped away as Clark pulled away from her quickly. She frowned at him, her arms out, now holding only air. Clark was a few feet away breathing heavily. His face was a mix of panic and fear.

"Lois, I'm sorry; I'm sorry," he said.

"Clark--."

"I shouldn't have done that; I shouldn't have even brought you to the fortress," he exclaimed. Lois' jaw dropped, his words struck her deeply. He dashed away, leaving her standing in the driveway, sorrow on her face.

"I don't know what I did," she asked no one.

(--)

A/N: Wow, I'm on a roll! Two chapters in two days! The muse strikes at interesting times! I hope you enjoy!


	16. A Kiss From Both Sides

Disclaimer: I only own the characters not normally seen on the show, in the films or in the comics (basically, the trivial characters you don't recognize).

Previously: _When he kissed her everything else fell away._

(--)

Chloe was busy attempting to zip a half-asleep Rory into her coat when Lois walked in the door. The young woman looked like a zombie, her eyes focused on the floor. Chloe frowned at her cousin and glanced at Martha who was holding Chris. The older woman looked at Lois as well, worry lines appearing on her forehead.

"Lois?" Chloe asked hesitantly. The brunette didn't reply.

"Lois, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Martha inquired stepping to Lois' side and placing a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder. Lois didn't say anything; instead she glanced at the hand on her arm and then at its owner.

Chloe sidestepped her cousin and glanced out the still-open screen door into the cloudless night. With a frown, she turned back to her shell-shocked cousin and pulled her own arm across the young woman's shoulders.

"Where's Clark?" Chloe questioned, kicking the door closed gently with the heel of her shoe. At the sound of Clark's name, Lois blinked a few times, seeming to regain her ability to think and speak. She looked at Chloe and shrugged.

"He isn't back? I thought he would have come inside," Lois said. Chloe shook her head, her worried frown still firmly in place.

"Lois, what happened?" Chloe asked as Martha helped the young woman over to the counter as a means of something to lean on. Lois hugged her arms tightly around her middle. She desperately wanted to cry; to break down into Chloe's arms and let her pain drip away in pool of hot liquid. But in the years since Clark had left, crying seemed to be all she did. And she was sick of it.

She was sick of falling in love with guys who were emotionally unavailable. And if Clark's performance outside in the yard was anything but emotionally unavailable, Lois would vow her undying love for Lex Luther. Feeling that she was particularly safe on the matter, Lois made a decision. Her final one concerning the ever-confusing Clark Kent: she'd had enough.

If Clark didn't want their relationship going anywhere past friendship then she could deal with that. And if she couldn't, she'd learn to. He was her best friend after all and she striven to regain the easy camaraderie they'd had shared so many years before, and she'd be damned if she did anything to ruin that again. So she'd keep her mouth shut, a difficult feat for one Lois Lane, but she would do it; because that was clearly what Clark wanted.

And she loved him: wholly and completely loved him. And if she was any kind of friend she would respect his wishes for a platonic relationship. If he didn't want to kiss her then all hell be damned but she would keep her distance. She would not let him get back in her "love zone"; but she would not lose a friend.

"Nothing," Lois finally answered her waiting cousin. Chloe nodded shortly, a common tell of the young woman that she neither believed the response nor would drop the issue. But Lois was thankful when the blonde didn't employ her investigative journalism skills right then, but Lois wasn't sure she'd be able to stick to her new resolve so soon after setting it.

"You look a little shaken," Martha observed kindly. Lois gave her a warm smile, but one she knew that the mother would see right through. It hadn't taken Lois living with the Kents for a year and half for Martha to know when the young woman was lying. But Lois was equally grateful when Martha refrained from pushing the issue as well.

"I'm tired. It's been a long day," Lois replied, "I think I'm going to go to bed," she turned on her heel and started up the wooden staircase. Tell Clark we're leaving first thing tomorrow," she added over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.

Chloe gave a worried look to Martha, whose face mirrored that of the young editor. If that wasn't the most half-assed gloss-over Chloe had ever seen then she didn't know what was. Lois was generally pretty good at covering her tracks, but this was pathetic. Chloe opened her mouth to speak when Jimmy walked into the room, carrying the baby bag and Chloe warm brown leather coat. He handed the coat to his wife before scooping Chris out of Martha's arms.

"What's going on?" he asked innocently, looking between both women.

(--)

_I kissed her! God what was I thinking?_

The chill of the cold November air was all but lost on Clark as he marched through the fields of the Kent Family Farm. All he could see on either side of him were the tall stalks of corn which ran parallel to the highway. He was trying to be gentle as he pushed through them; he'd already burn two large patches with his heat vision when pushing through them got too frustrating.

Now he was trying to be less forceful, which for him took a lot of restraint, something he was definitely lacking at the moment. His mind was going over every minute of the last hour again and again. The memory of 'introducing' Lois to his biological mother; the feeling of holding her so close once again; the taste of her kiss against his lips.

It was all too much.

With a mighty push, he lifted himself off the face of the Earth, rocketing skyward in a rush of darkness. He didn't stop until he'd crested he felt the air around him thin. The lack of oxygen didn't affect him, but he didn't that throwing himself into the vast reaches of space where not really be compatible with his destiny to save people (even if it was a destiny he did not want).

The sight below him was relaxing. He could see all of Smallville below him, even the faint traces of Metropolis at the edge of his vision. He let his muscles soften as he floated in the thin air. He closed his eyes and raised his head toward the white moon.

He quieted his thoughts and let the sounds of the world fill his head. He heard the strangest things whenever he did this. Confession of love from a man to his wife in Singapore; prayers of an old preacher in Los Angeles; the distant crying of a little girl in Gotham; the heartbeat of one Lois Joanne Lane…

Her heartbeat had always been the strongest in his head. He thought it was perhaps because she was honestly the most emotional person he knew. Sure, she didn't wear her feelings on her sleeve like he did, but it didn't mean her emotions were any less fierce. She was an understanding person and Clark felt lucky that he was one of the few people she'd shown that side of her personality to.

And then the feeling of her kiss drifted back to his subconscious. He couldn't believe he'd been that stupid. They had agreed that if anything happened it would be slow and it would be mutually acceptable. He had not made sure that things between them were okay enough for him to go ahead and be romantic with her. Sure, he'd felt like showing her the Fortress and his mother's image, he had allowed her access to a part of his life which he kept only to those he had intimate connections to. But she knew that too, and it was unfair of him to throw a deeply emotional moment at her and expect that she was on the same page.

He wished that he could get inside her head: wish that he could see exactly what she was thinking. Maybe then he would have known if it was okay; maybe then they would never have the problems they were having: This game of waiting for the other one to be ready.

Clark was sick of it.

He was sick of always following Lois around, hoping that she loved him like he loved her. The kiss was proof that he needed to stay away from her. And although it had felt like she'd kissed him back, he knew it was probably the surprise and perhaps some old feelings kicking into gear.

She would tell him when she was ready to go to the next step, if that time ever came.

He listened again as he heard her heartbeat slow down and he sighed, knowing she'd drifted asleep, probably in his bed. The thought would have made him happy once but now he was just thankful he wouldn't have to see her inevitably angry face until morning.

He floated above the world for a few more minutes before taking off, downward, toward the farmhouse. As the ground neared he thought briefly of not stopping, letting the Earth swallow him whole but he knew that it probably wouldn't kill him anyway; and all he would succeed in doing was making a giant crater in his mother's driveway.

He pulled up sharply and landed softly on his feet. He trekked across the dirt drive and up the porch steps. Chloe's car was not longer in front of the house and he assumed she and Jimmy and the kids had left. He felt a little guilty not saying goodbye to them, but then again he'd see both parents at work in the few days anyway (being that Chloe was starting a temporary off-maternity leave on Monday).

As he opened the door, he saw his mother in her bathrobe, pulling the kettle off the stove and pouring boiling water into her waiting tea cup. She didn't look up as he came in but proceeded to place the kettle back on the stove and turn her full attention to the tea bag and cup in front of her.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" Martha asked suddenly, breaking the silence between mother and son; still, she didn't look at him.

"I took her to the Fortress," Clark explained vaguely. He ignored his mother's now pointed look and seated himself at the counter, pulling an abandoned chocolate cookie off the plate near his hand.

Martha sat down beside him and stared at him; feeling her gaze leveled on his profile, Clark finally looked at her. Martha's eyes held the knowing spark which they always did when she looked at her son. Clark was a man who always spoke volumes with his eyes, and Martha had grown accustomed to reading what was spilling from them, especially concerning women, especially concerning Lois.

"What happened at the Fortress?" Martha probed.

"I showed her what Lara looked like," Clark answered. He refused to call Lara his mother in front of the Martha: _she_ was the one who had raised him. _She_ was his mother, and although he called Lara-El his 'mother' it was only in the explanatory sense of the word.

Martha felt a slight twang of jealousy at the mention of his son's real mother; but she quelled silently, "Go on."

Clark turned fully to his mother, "She loved it. Seeing Lara, being in the Fortress, I had to force her to come back before she froze to death."

Martha nodded, "Sounds like Lois; but it also sounds like you two were having a good time."

Clark nodded mutely, glancing away from her.

"So what changed?" Martha questioned off her son's actions. Something had made Lois go zombie-like when she returned to the farmhouse and Martha had an inclination that it didn't have to do with Lara-El.

"I kissed her," Clark replied shortly.

"Ahh," Martha suddenly understood her son's discomfort. She knew how adamant the pair had been about keeping their relationship friendly at the most. A kiss would definitely throw that plan for a loop; but still, Martha couldn't help but wonder about Lois' reaction. She seen enough of them to know that the 'just friends' line was blurring these days. She found it hard to believe that either was upset by the natural course of events.

"It was my fault, Mom; we agreed that things wouldn't get like that, not for a long time, not till we're both ready."

"Did you say anything to her afterwards?" Martha questioned.

"I said I was sorry; that I shouldn't have kissed her…that I shouldn't have even taken her to the Fortress," Clark trailed off into silence. And Martha was suddenly very aware of what exactly had happened between the two.

Martha was pretty sure Lois had been perfectly fine with the kiss; but Clark's seemingly regretful reaction must have surprised her quite a bit. Martha didn't blame the girl for being so shell-shocked when she had returned to the house.

"Sweetheart, did you explain to Lois that you thought you were trespassing on those boundaries?" Martha asked, even though she knew he had not.

"No," Clark replied as expected.

"Do you think maybe you should? Do you think maybe you should see how she feels about the kiss before jumping to conclusions?" Martha suggested.

Clark considered this: he hadn't, after all, thought about it. He'd assumed that Lois was not happy he'd kissed her. But he wasn't entirely sure. He _did_ swear that he felt her kissing him back. Once again, his mother's wisdom won over his own internal battle. He gave her a warm smile.

"You're right," he said.

"I know," Martha nodded happily patting her son's forearm.

"Now, get some sleep; Lois says you're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning," Martha explained. Kissing Clark's forehead and ruffling his hair slightly, Martha pushed away from the counter, carrying her tea cup up to bed.

Clark sat for a moment more. He would take his mother's advice and talk to Lois in the morning. Even if she wasn't into them kissing so soon, he would at least be able to apologize for bolting on her.

Content with his decision, Clark flicked off the lights in the kitchen and started up the stairs. He paused halfway up, however: Lois was in his room and because of both the events of the evening and their established boundaries he figured sleeping with her was probably not the best idea, especially if she was aware of it before she woke up. So, sighing, although with a faint smile on his lips, he trotted back down the stairs and toward the living room. He flopped down, pulling the throw over-top of him, and closed his eyes.

As he drifted off, he had a strong feeling of déjà vu and it made him smile once more.

(--)

The warm smell of coffee assailed his sensitive nostrils and he felt himself fall away from the vivid dream he was having. He stretched his arms above his head and felt them collide with arm of the couch. He let out a 'hrmph' of annoyance as his tired eyes flickered open.

Sunlight penetrated the living room, warming the skin exposed by his tee shirt. He pushed himself into a sitting position and wondered at what point of the evening he'd removed his blue button-down and kaki pants. The thoughts escaped him as he heard a quiet humming coming from the kitchen.

He grabbed his pants and pulled them on as he heaved himself off the couch and padded over to the bright kitchen. He was mildly surprised to see that Lois was already awake and busying herself with buttering a muffin she'd clearly taken from the plate of them on the counter.

"Where's Mom?" Clark asked. Lois jumped at the sound of his voice, clearly unaware that she wasn't alone in the kitchen. She rewarded him with a death glare before turning her attention back to the muffin.

"She's taking a shower, I think," Lois replied, placing the butter knife down on her plate. She extended the muffin to him with a happy smile on her face, "Muffin?"

Clark raised an eyebrow at her. A few things were very off this morning: 1) Lois was in a good mood before noon; 2) she didn't seem at all affected by the turn of the previous evening's events and 3) she'd actually offered him food. He wondered briefly if he'd woken up in an alternate reality.

"Sure, thanks," he said hesitantly, reaching for the muffin. With lightning reflexes, she pulled it back and glared at him as if he'd insulted her and the morning treat.

"Well, get your own," she snapped. Clark nodded once and a relieved smile crossed his face: no alternate reality here. Following her lead and somewhat suggestion, Clark pulled his own muffin off the pile on the counter and started indulging his morning appetite.

"Is there coffee?" he asked. Lois gave him a dubious look.

"You're the one with the super-smelling; you tell me," she replied. _Same old Lois_, he thought, rolling his eyes. He reached for the coffee and a cup just as Lois did the same. Their hands touched for the briefest of seconds and Clark was reminded that he was on a mission this morning.

"Lois," he began slowly.

"Clark," Lois mirrored mockingly.

"About last night--." Lois waved a hand in his face, pouring coffee into her cup before handing him the pot.

"No big deal, Clark, I get it; it was a 'heat of the moment' thing; I dig," she said. She gave him a smile as she drank greedily from her cup.

"Yeah," Clark nodded vigorously, "Yeah, definitely a 'heat of the moment', uh, moment."

"Good, so we're good?" she asked; he thought he saw a hestitancy, a nervousness in her eyes and he felt quick to squash it away.

"Definitely," he replied mimicking the smile that had spread across her face at his words. She nodded once more, as if making sure, before she slipped away from the counter.

"Just so you know, Clark, the cab will be here in about…," she glanced at her watch, "…four and a half minutes, assuming traffic patterns haven't changed much around here." She gave him a quick wave and he rolled his eyes again.

It was a good thing he was planning on wearing generally the same clothing as he had the day before. He did, however, rush upstairs to brush his teeth and kiss his mother goodbye before he heard the cab driver pull up outside, honking restlessly.

As he waited for Lois to slide into the taxi, and with a wave to his mother, Clark's mind examined the new information he'd obtained that morning. So Lois wasn't angry about overstepping the boundaries: she had taken it for what it was: a moment of weakness, and she'd let it go as easily as that. Clark smiled to himself; he was happy that things wouldn't be awkward between them, but he knew that _he_ was not going to be able to just wave off the feeling he'd missed for the last five years.

And what he didn't know as he closed the door and told the driver to go ahead, was the woman sitting beside him wasn't going to be able to either.

(--)

A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update. I really do have a bad case of writer's block, but "Thanks for the Gum" actually helped me, if only to make me wanted to push through this, even though it was for a different fan base. Lol. I hope you guy like this newest update. Reviews feed my muse!


End file.
